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"The  Devil  in  Robes" 


.  OR  .  .  . 


"The  Sin  of  Priests." 


THE  GORY  HAND  OP  CATHOLICISM  STAYED. 
THE  PRAYERS  OF  PROTESTANTS  HEARD, 

MILLIONS  OF  HUMAN   SOULS    HAVE    THE  YOKE   OF  BONDAGE 
LIFTED    FROM   THEIR   BLEEDING    NECKS. 


Homes  of  Cuba,  Puerto  Rico  and  the  Philippine  Islands  united, 
and  the  baleful  influences  of  Romanism  forever  removed  from 
wives  and  daughters. 

How  dare  a  priest  pollute  our  homes? 

How  dare  he  set  a  snare 
And  weave  his  meshes  tightly  round 

Our  wives  and  daughters  fair? 


TRUTHS  THAT  SHOCK  THE  CIVILIZED  WORLD. 

Every  Page  a  Story  of  Ungodly  Acts  of  the  Priest-Craft 
and  Upheld   by  their  Superiors. 

Compiled  from  facts  told  by  eye-witnesses,  which  includes  soldier  and 
civilian,  who  have  given  their  lives  to  liberate  the  unhappy  natives  of  these 
Islands,  and  rebuke  abhorent  Catholicism. 


.  .  .  INTRODUCTORY  BY  .  .  . 

REV.  J.   SCOTT    CARR,   D.   D., 

Traveler,  Lecturer  and  Preacher. 


Containing  nearly  500  pages,  including  about  SO  full  page  engravings, 
that  vivify  and  electrify  the  reader. 


Continental  Bible  House. 

ST.   LOUIS,   MO. 


PUBLISHERS'  Announcement. 


We  beg  to  say  that  we  have  no  apologies  to  make  to  the 
Catholic  world  for  bringing  out  this  volume,  for  if  it  is  not  an 
American  duty  to  throttle  and  expose  Romish  cunning  and  Pop- 
ish pollution  of  American  institutions  and  American  morals,  then 
we  are  in  the  wrong  for  laying  bare  the  slimy  doings  of  Rome 
and  her  benighted  cohorts;  but  if  it  is  right,  why  should  we  bow 
down  to  Pope,  bishop  and  priest  and  say,  "We  have  done  it,  but 
beg  your  pardon  ?"  Never;  we  want  to  say  to  the  American  and 
Protestant  world  that  we  have  heived  to  the  line,  and  if  Pope  Leo 
and  his  "Scarlet  Horse"  don't  like  it,  stop  your  infamous  prac- 
tices. We  are  Americans  first,  last  and  all  the  time,  and  no  true 
American  can  be  a  patriot  and  bow  dov/n  to  an  Italian  Pontiff, 
and  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  do  his  bidding.  Every  Amer- 
ican knows  that  there  is  not  a  single  Catholic  dignitary  but  what 
considers  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment wrong,  as  they  consider  that  the  Pope  and  the  Catholic 
Church  are  the  rulers  of  the  universe,  and  secretly  make  their 


threats  that  at  no  late  date  In  the  future  Catholicism  will  rule 
America.  We  have  compiled  this  work  and  placed  it  before  the 
American  people,  believing  that  it  will  arouse  slothful  Protestants 
the  world  over,  and  will  open  the  eyes  of  American  Catholics  and 
help  them  to  shake  off  the  tyrannical  yoke  of  the  priestcraft  that 
smirches  the  character  of  their  wives,  sisters  and  daughters, 
whenever  it  is  within  their  power  to  do  so,  and  feeling  that  their 
imgodly  heads  may  not  suffer  for  the  imposition. 

.We  are  glad  to  know  that  a  large  number  of  Catholics  have 
begun  to  look  upon  the  confessional  box  as  an  intrigue  to  help 
along  the  lustful  inclinations  of  priests,  and  have  begun  to  realize 
that  there  is  danger  of  trusting  their  jewels  alone  in  the  presence 
of  lustful  man,  with  the  superstitious  cloak  of  unerring  sanctity 
about  him  in  order  that  he  may  make  innocent  women  believe 
that  no  act  of  his  can  defile  or  pollute.  Let  us  repeat,  that  we 
may  be  assassinated,  we  may  be  ushered  before  our  Maker  by 
some  treacherous  hand  who  worships  the  Pope  instead  of  God, 
we  may  be  hounded  by  courts  placed  in  power  by  the  priestcraft, 
and  gullible  Protestants  who  would  ''sell  their  birthright  for  a 
mess  of  pottage/'  but  should  this  happen,  we  will  never  lower  our 
colors,  and  the  words  "Protestant  America"  will  be  inscribed 
at  the  top  of  our  banner,  and  the  inscription  upon  our  armor  shall 
be  "America  for  'Americans/'  and  the  inscription  shall  be  en- 
graved so  deep  that  the  rumblings  from  the  Vatican  shall  never 
deface  it,  and  its  luster  shall  grow  brighter  until  the  Archives  of 
future  centuries  shall  have  become  ancient. 

Yours  in  the  name  of  America, 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


INTRODUCTION 


BY. 


Rev.  J.  SCOTT   CARR,  D.  D., 

Traveler,  Lecturer  and  Preacher. 

PASTOR   PLYMOUTH    CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH, 
SAINT   LOUIS,   MO. 


In  presenting  this  authentic  history  of  Romish  rule  in  the 
isles  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico  and  Philippines,  we  come  before  the 
public  v/ith  an  entirely  new  work,  new  engravings,  new  every- 
thing, but  the  fact  of  the  curse  of  Romanism  in  our  world.  The 
title  is  well  chosen  and  fitly  illustrates  the  work,  "The  Devil  in 
Robes,  or  The  Sin  of  Priests."  For  if  anywhere  in  modern  times 
the  blackness  of  the  darkness  of  Roman  hellishness  or  Jesuitical 
ingenuity  in  torture  of  humanity  for  the  enrichment  of  the  "Man 
of  Sin,"  or  the  enslavement  of  the  masses  to  Popish  priestcraft 
has  been  manifested,  it  is  certainly  in  these  islands,  under  papal 
rule  for  the  past  four  centuries. 


Never  before  in  the  history  of  America  has  the  subject  of 
Roman  Catholicism  commanded  so  much  attention  or  has  it  been 
as  aggressive  as  at  the  present.  The  insidious  encroachments  of 
the  papal  system  against  our  national  institutions,  our  free  school 
system,  our  American  Sabbath  and  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment have  only  recently  become  evident  to  the  people  at  large. 
The  American  Protective  Association  has  been  an  important  fac- 
tor in  presenting  to  the  American  people  the  true  relation  of  the 
Roman  Hierarchy  to  this  country.  All  the  ingenuity  and  craft 
of  the  followers  of  Loyola  have  been  called  into  action  to  cover 
up  their  real  intentions.  Ireland's  declaration,  ".We  can  have 
America  in  ten  years.  I  give  you  three  points,  the  Indians, 
negroes  and  the  public  schools.  With  these  in  our  hands  the 
America  of  the  future  is  ours,"  is  the  watchword  of  that  Church 
(?)  which  has  caused  more  tears  and  shed  more  blood  than  all 
the  armies  of  the  earth.  What  that  America  of  the  future  is  if 
Ireland's  wish  is  gained,  is  placed  before  you  in  the  following 
pages,  in  the  unveiling  of  priestcraft  in  these  unhappy  islands, 
for  "Rome  never  changes." 

This  work  is  not  a  rehash  of  past  history  under  a  new  title, 
but  a  clear  presentation  of  facts  gathered  during  the  past  two  or 
three  years.  With  the  past  we  have  naught  to  do  more  than  to 
say  that  volumes  have  been  written  on  the  history  of  this  "Mother 
of  Harlots"  in  her  iniquitous  work  in  Spain,  France,  England 
and  elsewhere,  every  page  of  which  is  stained  with  the  blood  of 
so-called  heretics,  or  illuminated  by  the  fires  of  the  "Auto-de-fe." 
We  leave  that  to  the  historian  of  the  past,  and  call  upon  the  peo- 
ple of  free  America  to  take  cognizance  of  the  history  of  the 
Roman  Catholicism  of  the  present.  There  has  come  to  our  at- 
tention so  much  evidence  of  the  Romanism  of  to-day  being  a  re- 
production of  the  Romanism  of  the  past  with  larger  facilities  for 


carrying  on  its  unholy  warfare  against  all  who  have  not  the  marl? 
of  the  "Beast  and  False  Prophet"  upon  them,  that  we  are  led  to 
send  forth  this  volume  of  facts.  Am  I  wrong  when  I  say  that 
all  the  strikes  that  have  occurred  in  the  United  States  during  the 
past  decade,  strikes  that  have  been  the  cause  of  such  vast  expendi- 
tures of  wealth,  such  loss  to  life  and  property  and  stagnation  of 
improvements  have  all  had  their  origin  in  the  Church  of  Rome; 
these  anarchial — socialistic  demonstrations,  whence  came  they  if 
not  from  the  Romish  Church  ?  Note  the  nationality  of  the  hordes 
of  immigrants  to  this  country,  among  whom  strikes  engender, 
learn  their  religious  tendencies  and  you  will  find  that  they  all  are 
the  offspring  of  the  "woman  who  sits  on  the  scarlet  colored  beast." 

The  horrible  pictures  disclosed  in  the  following  pages  of 
priestly  rule  in  the  islands  which  form  the  subject  of  this  book 
are  true  pictures,  and  reveal  unto  us  the  "Devil  in  Robes"  under 
the  guise  of  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  debaunching  women,  deso- 
lating homes,  orphaning  children,  ruining  virtue,  enslaving  com- 
munities and  dyeing  its  soul  with  murdered  innocence. 

Americans !  Protestant  Americans  !  Is  it  not  time  that  "ye 
awaken  out  of  your  sleep?"  Look  well  to  the  portals  of  your 
national  and  individual  liberties.  The  "Devil  in  Robes"  is  in  our 
midst,  eating  the  very  vitals  out  of  our  system  of  government, 
Learn  from  this  volume  what  he  has  in  store  for  you,  unless  ye 
arouse  yourselves,  shake  off  the  Monster's  grasp,  and  banish 
priestcraft  from  our  shores. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  the  compiler  has  endeavored 
to  avoid  all  unnecessary  controversial  matter.  He  has  written  as 
a  member  of  the  great  Protestant  family,  not  as  a  member  of  any 
one  particular  branch  of  that  family.  It  is  his  belief  'that  all 
Protestants  should  unite  in  the  conflict  with  the  "Devil  in  Robes" 
as  the  great  enemy  of  God  and  humanity;  it  has  been  his  aim  to 


furnish  from  the  armory  of  truth  weapons  for  that  conflict  which 
shall  be  alike  acceptable  to  ministers  and  laymen  of  every  name 
and  order  who  are  not  ashamed  of  the  name  of  Protestant  Amer- 
ican. 

Yours  for  America, 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

The  Wreck  of  the  Battleship  Maine 12 

The  Havana  Harbor 18 

Priest  Narcinti  Assaulting  a  Sister 25 

Church  of  Puerto  Rico  with  Bedrooms  in  Basement 31 

A  Group  of  Starving  Cubans 37 

Priest  Gonzello 48 

A  Convent  in  Cuba 54 

Hobson  Swimming  from  the  Merrimac  ...    66 

General  Garcia,  the  Cuban  Patriot 72 

General  Maceo,  Assassinated  by  Catholicism 80 

Teresa  Farseni  and  Her  Two  Children 92 

Mrs.  Anne  Gomenti  and  Daughters  Imprisoned 102 

Priests  Obtaining  Bodies  of  Soldiers 112 

Cubans  Being  Spirited  Away  by  Priests 122 

A  Philippine  Beauty  who  Robs  Tourists 132 

Catholic  Sister  Teaching  Priests'  Children 142 

Bishop  Martiltomi  of  the  Philippine  Islands 152 

The  Nine-Year  Old  Daughter  of  Priest  Tamaro 172 

Dead  Men  Tell  No  Tales .182 

Pope  Leo  of  Rome 202 

Ex-President  U.  S.  Grant 218 

Bombshell  Thrown  in  Protestant  Hospital 226 

Burial  of  Soldiers  by  Priests,  After  Removing  Clothing 244 

Clara  Barton,  President  National  Red  Cross  Association 263 

General  Robert  E.  Lee 272 

General  Joseph  Wheeler 282 

Brig.  Gen.  Fitzhugh  Lee 296 

Robbery  of  Dead  Soldiers  by  Priests 306 

Protestant  Soldiers  Suffering  for  Water 317 

Hurled  to  Death  by  Spanish  Soldiers 328 

High  Priest  Zironos  of  Puerto  Rico 338 

Men,  Women  and  Children  being  Tortured 344 

Agonies  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 350 

The  Result  of  Romish  Rule  in  Cuba 356 

French  Priests  Arrested  for  Inciting  Riots 362 

They  Suffered  for  Liberty's  Sake 368 

Suffering  of  Missionaries  and  their  Families 398 

Hanging  of  Four  Protestants 412 

Punishment  of  John  Mallott 436 

Torturing  of  Protestant  Missionaries,  Philippine  Islands 463 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.  Pagb 

Destruction  of  the  Battleship  Maine,  Cause  and  by  whom  done         .  13 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Oath  that  Each  Priest  must  Take  and  Its  Effect  upon  the  U.S. 

Government i        .  19 

CHAPTER  III. 

A  Confession  by  a  Puerto  Rican  Lady  who  fell  through  the  Influen- 
ces of  the  Insidious  Confessional  Box.         .         .         •        .         .  27 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Why  Cuba  Suffered.      The  Bondage  the  Natives  were  held  in  by 

Catholicism ,         .         ,         .  39 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  Priest's  Confession.     The  Influences  of  the  Confessional  Box  upon 

Women 43 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Blood  of  the  Innocent  Shed  for  Revenge.     Cuujuring  Devices  to  In- 
fluence the  Ignorant       .  .......  49 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Nunneries  and  Convents  in  America  and  Elsewhere     .         .        <         .  55 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Suffered  for  a  Father's  (Priest's)  Sins.     Followers    of    Catholicism, 

as  well  as  others,  suffer  when  it  serves  Catholic  purposes  .  67 

CPIAPTER  IX. 

The  Ruin  of  Girls.    Priests  Endeavor  to  make  Young  Girls  and  older 

ones  believe  they  cannot  Sin 93 

CHAPTER  X. 

Why  Priests  Should  Marry.     Celibacy  a  Drawback  to  Civilization      .  129 

CHAPTER  XI. 

To  Hide  his  Shame  his  Child  Suffers.      Priest  Tamaro  Starved  his 

Child  to  Escape  Punishment 173 

CHAPTER  XII. 

To  ask  questions  Means  Death.    To  Inquire  into  the  Doings  of  Cath- 
olicism incurs  Priestly  Wrath 183 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Driven  to  a  Convent  for  Protection,  She  finds  both  Misery  and  Shame         203 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIV.  Page 

Life  in  a  Convent  as  Told  by  an  Inmate    ,        •        •        7        «        ^  219 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Off  to  the  Convent.    A  Tale  of  Misery  told  by  a  Cuban  Girl      .        ;  227 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Character  of  Catholics  in  America;  who  they  are,  and  where 

they  come  from 245 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Our  Common  Schools,  and  why  Catholics  should  not  be  Teachers     .  273 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Why  Protestants  Should  Hold  the  Offices  in  the  Gift  of  the  Ameri- 
can People    .        , 297 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
American  Priests  and  Their  Influences.         •.*•••  307 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Catholic  Church  in  Politics.    Greed  and  L,ust  their  Every  Object  339 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

American  Officials  to  Blame  for  the  Presumption  of  Romanism  in  the 

United  States 357 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Where  Strikes  and  Public  Disturbances  Arise,  and  by  Whom  Pin- 
gendered        ,         ,  363 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Republicanism  and  Democracy  Lashed  for  Catering  to  Catholicism 

for  Votes 369 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Why  a  President  of  the  United  States  should  not  Treat  with  Pope 

Leo  nor  any  other  Catholic  Dignitary 413 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Jas  Congress  any  Right  to  set  aside  Vast  Sums  of  Money  for  Cath- 
olic Schools? 437 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

A  Home  Ruined,  a  Husband  Crazed,  a  Wife  Disgraced,  a  Priest  Un- 
punished.   A  Nebraska  Episode  «        ,        »        ,        •        ,  465 


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Chapter  I. 

The  Beginning  of  tlie  End. 


In  the  stillness  of  a  tropical  night,  the  battleship  Maine  rock- 
ed calmly  in  the  harbor  of  Havana;  brave  seamen  peacefully 
slumbered  in  their  hammocks,  dreaming  of  mothers,  wives  and 
sweethearts^  and  the  visions  of  dear  ones  carried  them  home  once 
more,  to  gaze  into  the  eyes  of  loved  ones,  and  feel  the  tender  hand 
of  mother  upon  their  brow,  and  press  warm  lips  of  wives  and  chil- 
dren ;  they  dreamed  of  their  furloughs,  and  thought  they  could  see 
mother  with  streaming  eyes  to  welcome  them  home;  they  could 
hear  the  joyful  shouts  of  the  little  prattler,  as  they  called  to  mam- 
ma that  "Papa  is  coming ;"  they  were  living  over  again  in  vision's 
realms,  what  they  hoped  to  be  a  reality;  but  could  they  have 
scanned  the  harbor  shore  at  that  moment,  they  would  have  seen 
a  dark  figure  move  with  cat-like  tread  towards  the  deadly 
electrical  machine  which  was  so  soon  to  bring  their  fond 
dreams  to  a  close,  and  usher  their  souls  before  God.  A 
crash!  and  the  air  is  rent  with  the  screams  and  groans  of  the 


14  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

'dying;  the  Maine  is  blown  up;  the  civilized  world  is  astounded; 
America  from  shore  to  shore  weeps.  But  hark !  is  it  possible  that 
we  hear  shouts  of  satisfaction  and  joy  in  the  midst  of  this  awful 
carnage.  No,  impossible!  but  again  the  same  sounds  float  in 
from  the  Havana  shore,  and  we  hear  the  heartless  rabble  who 
have  gathered  to  learn  the  cause  of  the  terrible  slaughter,  express- 
ing satisfaction  and  offering  insults  to  the  poor,  bleeding,  dying, 
gallant  boys  of  the  Maine  as  they  are  carried  on  shore.  Who  is 
this  heartless  rabble?  Follow  the  crooked  and  meandering  paths 
of  their  existence  and  you  will  find  yourself  looking  down  upon 
the  polluted  walls  of  the  Vatican.  You  will  find  nothing  but  the 
cohorts  of  Catholicism,  you  will  find  Priest  and  Parishioner  like 
both  demon  and  vulture  hovering  over  these  torn  and  lacerated 
sailors.  They  are  like  demons  because  no  one  but  a  demon  could 
find  it  in  their  hearts  to  take  the  lives  of  innocent  men  who  had 
never  done  them  or  theirs  harm.  They  are  like  vultures  because 
before  the  blood  had  dried  upon  the  garments  of  these  noble  sons, 
these  progenies  of  Catholicism  were  pilfering  their  bodies  and 
taking  the  little  mementoes  that  mothers,  wives  and  sweethearts 
had  sent  them.  We  see  them  straighten  the  fingers  cold  in  death 
and  slip  the  rings  off  that  mother  had  given  her  boy  when  the 
gallant  Maine  sailed  away  to  a  foreign  port;  we  see  the  picture 
torn  from  the  watch  that  wife  had  pasted  in  just  before  her  hus- 
band went  aboard  for  the  last  time ;  we  see  the  little  golden  locket 
that  a  fond  father  had  worn  next  his  heart  jerked  off  with  unholy 
hands,  and  the  picture  of  his  darling  curly-headed  boy  or  girl 
tossed  into  the  dark  and  filthy  waters  of  the  Havana  harbor;  we 
hear  the  letters  from  pure  American  girls,  written  to  her  sailor 
lover,  read  aloud,  and  comments  that  would  put  to  shame  the 


mNBTEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM.  15 

most  unclean  mortal  of  God's  universe.  No  other  nation  on 
earth  but  Spain  could  have  treated  the  crew  of  the  Maine  as  tliey; 
were  treated. 

Could  we  expect  more  at  her  hands  ?  Does  not  Catholicism 
lead  to  barbarity  ?  The  morning  after  the  Maine  was  blown  up 
and  her  army  of  souls  sent  to  eternity,  both  hemispheres  were 
paralyzed.  The  click  of  the  telegrapher's  instrument  sent  the  in- 
formation into  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  civilized  world. 
Flags  were  run  up  at  half  mast  in  honor  of  the  nation's  dead,  and 
America  mourned  as  one  bereft  mourner.  Nations  cabled  their 
sympathy;  individuals  burdened  the  wires  with  tender  messages; 
men  high  in  state  affairs  the  world  over  touched  the  key-board 
fehat  connects  nations  and  annihilates  distances,  and  poured  out 
their  souls  of  heartfelt  sorrow ;  what  was  the  message  from  Pope 
Leo  of  Rome?  The  sad  ocean  waves  are  still  asking,  What  was 
it?  "Rome  never  changes,"  is  the  everlasting  boast  of  Catholics, 
so  we  are  lead  to  believe  that  instead  of  the  head  of  the  Catholic 
Church  at  Rome  being  sorry  for  the  dastardly,  diabolical  deeds 
of  her  misguided,  illiterate,  degenerate  followers,  that  secretly 
there  was  a  delight  and  pleasure  in  her  every  branch  of  Papal 
government.  Not  a  word  comes  from  the  Vatican  until  she  is 
aroused  by  the  rattle  of  musketry,  and  the  determined  neigh  of 
the  American  war  horse;  then  how  quickly  the  scene  changes. 
You  see  the  cunning  hand  of  the  Pope  in  every  branch  of  govern- 
ment; you  see  his  slimy  emissaries  hurrying  to  and  from  the 
White  House,  and  the  Catholic  dignitaries  from  ocean  to  ocean 
and  from  Maine  to  the  Gulf  trying  to  stay  the  hand  at  Washing- 
ton that  has  the  power  to  assemble  Congress  and  recommend  a 
declaration  of  war,  and  we  are  sorry  to  believe  that  the  Pope 


IS  'NINBTBENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


would  have  succeeded  had  it  not  been  for  the  pure,  unadulterated, 
God-loving  and  fearless,  pure-blooded  Protestants  of  America. 
From  every  hillside  and  valley  came  the  ever-conquering  spirit 
of  our  forefathers,  crying  for  vengeance.  And  when  the  Protes- 
tant Churches,  the  next  Sunday  after  the  Maine  was  blown  up, 
sang  in  public  worship,  "America,"  the  die  was  cast,  and  the 
old  Mosaic  law  had  once  more  been  revived,  and  the  cry  was, 
"An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  Young  Ameri- 
cans from  every  walk  of  life,  from  the  plow,  from  the  factories, 
from  the  dry  goods  emporiums,  from  colleges,  from  the  count- 
ing-room, and  from  the  homes  of  idle  elegance  were  fired;  the  old 
veteran  of  many  wars  wept  for  youthful  vitality  once  more,  in 
order  to  lash  the  nation  of  stinging  serpents,  who  would  dare 
spill  the  innocent  blood  of  our  gallant  boys  of  the  Maine.  Presi- 
dent McKinley  endeavored  to  appease  the  American  public  by 
pleading  that  this  nation  v\^as  not  ready  to  fight,  which  was  in  a 
measure  true, — that  is  the  machinery  of  the  nation  was  not 
strong  enough  to  handle  her  "fighters,"  for  no  time  since  we 
trimmed  up  the  "red  coats"  of  England  did  the  American  nation 
ever  contain  so  many  fighters.  The  writer  remembers  one  day, 
the  first  of  May,  after  the  destruction  of  the  Maine,  while  stand- 
ing on  a  street  corner  in  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  a  squad  of  boys 
about  nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  were  talking  of  the  war,  and  one 
little  fellow  remarked  that  he  was  a  fighter,  and  from  fighting 
stock,  and  he  expected  to  "jine"  the  army  the  first  "pertunity" 
he  had.  One  of  his  companions  told  him  that  he  was  too  young, 
that  they  wouldn't  have  him.  This  seemed  to  worry  the  little 
patriot  for  a  minute,  but  as  quick  as  a  flash  he  brightened  up,  and 
with  his  big  boyish  blue  eyes  swimming  in  tears  said :    "Well^  I 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  17 

may  be  too  young  to  'jine'  the  army,  but  I  can  lick  any  boy  in 
this  crowd  that  will  holler,  'Hurrah,  for  Spain !'  " 

I  said  to  myself,  God  bless  the  old  red,  white  and  blue  flag, 
for  as  long  as  she  had  such  boys  to  make  men  of,  this  would  con- 
tinue to  be  the  greatest  nation  on  earth.  I  walked  across  the 
street  to  where  the  boy  was,  and  inquired  his  name  and  where  he 
lived.  He  told  me,  and  I  went  at  once  to  the  number  designated 
by  the  boy,  and  found  an  old  man  making  baskets,  hobbling 
around  upon  one  natural  leg  and  a  wooden  one  made  by 
himself.  I  inquired  how  he  lost  his  limb,  and  he  told  me  that  it 
was  shot  off  by  a  Yankee  ball.  I  then  informed  him  that  I  had 
met  his  little  son,  and  related  what  the  boy  had  said.  As  quick 
as  the  flash  of  powder  this  old,  grizzled  Southern  war-horse 
straightened  up,  seemingly  under  the  impression  that  I  had  come 
to  find  fault,  and  gave  me  a  look  that  would  have  frozen  molten 
lead,  and  said :  "Young  man,  did  that  boy  say  that  ?"  I  assured 
him  he  did,  then  he  pointed  his  old,  bony  finger  at  me  and  said : 

"Well,  I  can  whip  any foreigner,  or  anybody  else  that  says 

he  can't."  At  this  my  soul  simply  flooded  with  tears  and  I  ac- 
tually hugged  that  old,  battered  veteran  and  exclaimed:  "God 
bless  you  and  your  boy;  I  may  look  like  a  foreigner,  but  you  and 
your  boy  are  the  only  two  Americans  on  earth  that  are  better 
Americans  than  I  am.  It  is  a  wholesome  sight  to  see  father  and 
son  both  ready  to  fight  the  battles  of  their  country.  Americans 
love  their  country  because  their  country  loves  them.  Catholicism 
does  not  teach  patriotism,  but  only  obedience  and  servitude  to  an 
overbearing  and  detestable  set  of  puffed-up,  lustful  dignitaries. 
Can  you  expect  patriotism  from  the  priestcraft  who  swears  obe- 
dience to  the  Pope,  and  vows  vengeance  against  everything 
Protestant. 


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Chapter  11. 

The  Oath  Which  Every  Priest  flust  Take. 


If  the  oath  that  Catholic  priests  must  take  was  taken  by 
any  secret  order  in  America  its  members  would  be  arrested  for 
treason,  but  still  the  American  people  sit  idly  by  and  allow  their 
worst  enemies  to  come  right  among  them  and  build  institutions 
that  are  a  shame  to  civilization,  and  permit  these  institutions  to 
be  run  by  an  oathbound  set  of  men  who  both  secretly  and  openly 
swear  vengeance  against  our  Free  American  institutions,  and 
brand  our  public  schools  as  "Nurseries  of  Hell."  If  every  pure 
American  will  read  and  reread  the  following  oath  that  each  Cath- 
olic priest  must  take,  then  they  will  have  some  idea  of  their 
crime  when  they  cast  a  vote  for  a  Catholic  to  fill  any  office  within 
the  gift  of  the  American  people : 

THE  JESUITICAL  OATH. 

I,  ,  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  the 

blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  blessed  St.  John  the  Baptist,  the  holy 


20  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

apostles,  St.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  all  the  saints,  sacred  hosts  of 
Heaven,  and  to  you  my  Ghostly  Father,  the  superior  general  of 
the  society  of  Jesus,  founded  by  St.  Ignatus  Loyola,  in  the  pon- 
tification  of  Paul  the  Third,  and  continued  to  the  present,  do,  by 
the  womb  of  the  Virgin,  the  matrix  of  God,  and  the  rod  of  Jesus 
Christ,  declare  and  swear  that  his  holiness,  the  Pope,  is  Christ's 
vicegerent,  and  is  the  true  and  only  head  of  the  Catholic' or  uni- 
versal church  throughout  the  earth;  and  that  by  virtue  of  the 
keys  of  binding  and  loosing  given  to  his  holiness  by  my  Savior, 
Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power  to  depose  heretical  kings,  princes, 
states,  commonwealths  and  governments,  all  being  illegal  with- 
out his  sacred  confirmation,  and  they  may  be  safely  destroyed. 
Therefore,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  I  will  defend  this  doc- 
trine and  his  holiness'  right  and  custom  against  all  usurpers  of 
the  heretical  or  Protestant  authority  whatsoever,  especially  the 
Lutheran  Church  of  Germany,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden  and 
Norway,  and  the  now  pretended  authority  and  Churches  of  En- 
gland and  Scotland,  and  the  branches  of  the  same  now  estab- 
lished in  Ireland,  and  on  the  continent  of  America  and  elsewhere, 
and  all  adherents  in  regard  that  they  be  usurped  and  heretical 
opposing  the  sacred  mother  church  of  Rome. 

I  do  now  denounce  and  disown  any  allegiance  as  due  to  any 
heretical  king,  prince  or  state,  named  protestant  or  liberals,  or 
obedience  to  any  of  their  laws,  magistrates  or  officers. 

I  do  further  declare  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Churches  of 
England  and  Scotland  of  the  Calvinists,  Huguenots  and  others 
of  the  name  of  protestants  or  liberals,  to  be  damnable,  and  they 
themselves  to  be  damned  who  will  not  forsake  the  same. 

I  do  further  declare  that  I  will  help,  assist  and  advise  all  or 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM.  21 

any  of  his  holiness'  agents,  in  any  place  where  I  shall  be,  in  Swit- 
zerland, Germany,  Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Eng- 
land, Ireland  or  America,  or  in  any  other  kingdom  or  territory  I 
shall  come  to,  and  do  my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical  Pro- 
testant or  liberal  doctrines,  and  to  destroy  all  their  pretended 
powers,  legal  or  otherwise. 

I  do  further  promise  and  declare  that,  notwithstanding  I  am 
dispensed  with  to  assume  any  religion  heretical  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  mother  church's  interest,  to  keep  secret  and  private 
all  her  agent's  councils  from  time  to  time,  as  they  entrust  me,  and 
not  to  divulge,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  word,  writing  or  cir- 
cumstances whatever,  but  to  execute  all  that  shall  be  proposed, 
given  in  charge,  or  discovered  unto  me,  by  you  my  Ghostly  Fath- 
er, or  any  of  this  sacred  convent. 

I  do  further  promise  and  declare  that  I  will  have  no  opinion 
or  will  of  my  own  or  any  mental  reservation  whatsoever,  even  as 
a  corpse  or  cadaver  (perinde  ac  cadaver),  but  will  unhesitatingly 
obey  each  and  every  command  that  I  may  receive  from  my 
superiors  in  the  militia  of  the  pope  and  of  Jesus  Christ. 

That  I  will  go  to  any  part  of  the  world  whithersoever  I  may 
be  sent,  to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  ISTorth,  to  the  burning  sands 
of  the  desert  of  Africa,  or  the  jungles  of  India,  to  the  centers  of 
civilization  of  Europe,  or  to  the  wild  haunts  of  the  barbarous 
savages  of  America,  without  murmuring  or  repining,  and  will  be 
submissive  in  all  things  whatsoever  communicated  to  me. 

I  do  furthermore  promise  and  declare  that  I  will,  when 
opportunity  presents,  make  and  wage  relentless  war^  secretly  or 
openly,  against  all  heretics,  Protestants  and  Liberals,  as  I  am 
directed  to  do,  to  extirpate  them  from  the  face  of  the  whole  earth; 


22  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

and  that  I  will  spare  neither  age,  sex  or  condition,  and  that  I  will 
hang,  burn,  waste,  boil,  flay,  strangle,  and  bury  alive  these  in- 
famous heretics ;  rip  up  the  stomachs  and  wombs  of  their  women, 
and  crush  their  infants'  heads  against  the  walls,  in  order  to  anni- 
hilate their  execrable  race.  That  when  the  same  can  not  be  done 
openly,  I  will  secretly  use  the  poisonous  cup,  the  strangulating 
cord,  the  steel  of  the  poniard,  or  the  leaden  bullet,  regardless  of 
the  honor,  rank,  dignity  or  authority  of  the  person  or  persons, 
whatever  may  be  their  condition  in  life,  either  public  or  private, 
as  I  at  any  time  may  be  directed  so  to  do,  by  any  agent  of  the 
Pope,  or  Superior  of  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Holy  Father  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus. 

In  confirmation  of  which  I  hereby  dedicate  my  life,  my  soul, 
and  all  corporeal  powers,  and  with  dagger  which  I  now  receive 
I  will  subscribe  my  name,  written  in  my  blood,  in  testimony 
thereof;  and  should  I  prove  false  or  weaken  in  my  determination, 
may  my  brethren  and  fellow  soldiers  of  the  militia  of  the  Pope 
cut  off  my  hands  and  feet  and  my  throat  from  ear  to  ear,  my 
belly  opened  and  sulphur  burned  therein  with  all  the  punishment 
that  can  be  inflicted  upon  me  on  earth  and  my  soul  be  tortured 
by  demons  in  an  eternal  hell  forever. 

All  of  which  I, — —  do  swear  by  the 

Blessed  Trinity  and  Blessed  Sacrament  which  I  am  now  to 
receive,  to  perform,  and  on  my  part  to  keep  this,  my  oath. 

In  testimony  hereof,  I  take  this  most  holy  and  blessed  sacra- 
ment of  the  eucharist,  and  witness  the  same  further,  with  my; 
name  written  with  the  point  of  this  dagger,  dipped  in  my  own 
blood,  and  seal  in  the  face  of  this  holy  sacrament. 

[He  receives  the  wafer  from  the  Superior  and  writes  his 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OR  ROMANISM.  23 

name  with  the  point  of  his  dagger,  dipped  in  his  own  blood,  taken 
from  over  the  heart.] 

If  the  above  oath  does  not  make  the  blood  of  every  true 
American  boil  with  righteous  indignation,  he  or  she  is  surely- 
lacking  all  the  elements  of  patriotism.  The  priest  first  swears 
his  allegiance  to  Catholicism,  and  places  behind  him  every 
thought  of  God  and  his  country.  Can  a  man  or  set  of  men  wor- 
ship a  God  that  is  full  of  love  and  pity  and  swear  that  he  will  per- 
secute unto  death  all  that  does  not  coincide  with  his  belief? 
Each  priest  swears  eternal  vengeance  against  Protestants  wher- 
ever found;  and  still  weak-kneed  Protestants  will  cast  their  vote 
for  a  Catholic  who  is  bound  by  an  oath  subscribed  in  his  own 
blood  to  destroy  every  vestige  of  Protestanism.  The  Catholic  re- 
ligion disowns  the  right  to  be  governed  by  any  power,  only  that 
which  comes  through  the  Pope,  and  was  it  not  for  the  overwhelm- 
ing majority  that  the  Protestants  have  in  America,  our  free  and 
God-given  institutions  would  be  ruthlessly  brushed  aside  by  Ro- 
manism, and  in  their  stead  the  idolatrotis  institutions  of  Catholi- 
cism would  rear  their  brazen  heads. 

The  Catholic  Church  despises  secret  orders  with  all  the 
venom  that  it  is  possible  to  bestow  upon  an  object  of  hatred,  and 
at  the  same  time  every  fabric  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  bound 
together  with  a  cord  of  secrecy.  Our  blood  congeals  when  we 
think  of  a  sect,  who  pretend  to  worship  a  living  God,  declaring 
that  they  will  resort  to  every  means  known  to  the  bloodthirsty, 
uncivilized  tribes  of  the  earth  in  order  to  exterminate  the  Pro- 
testant race.  The  Catholic  World  declares  that  the  great  and 
noble  race,  the  Protestants,  are  all  illegitimate  offsprings  of  the 
devil,  as  they  aver  that  there  is  no  power  upon  earth  that  can 


24  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  0F_  ROMANISM. 

legitimately  unite  man  and  woman  in  holy  matrimony  outside  of 
the  power  of  the  Catholic  Church.  They  declare  that  your  son 
and  daughter  who  play  at  your  hearthstone  are  bastards,  and 
have  eternal  damnation  written  upon  their  brow,  simply  because 
their  fathers  and  mothers  were  not  united  in  wedlock  by  one  of 
their  abominable  officials. 

We  ask  the  Protestant  world,  in  the  name  of  a  living  God, 
in  the  name  of  your  dead  fathers  and  mothers,  in  the  name  of 
your  dear  wives  who  are  as  pure  as  the  lily  of  the  valley,  how  long 
will  we  sit  idly  by  and  have  these  insinuations  thrown  in  our  face  ? 
Look  well  to  the  portals  of  your  homes,  and  see  that  Catholicism 
does  not  gain  a  foothold  by  her  insidious  intrigues.  Be  ever  ready 
to  throttle  the  enemy,  and  make  diligent  inquiries  in  regard  to 
whom  you  are  going  to  cast  your  vote,  as  a  Protestant  vote  cast 
for  a  Catholic  is  an  amen  and  a  huzzah  for  the  Pope  and  his  army 
of  traducers  of  American  and  Protestant  homes. 


Priest  Narcinti  Assaulting  a  Sister. 


Chapter  III. 

A  Puerto  Rico  Confession. 


In  the  latter  part  of  May,  1898,  just  before  the  famous  battle 
of  Santiago,  a  Miss  Amherst,  of  the  United  States,  had  gone  to 
Puerto  Rico  in  order  to  gather  information  relative  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  Puerto  Rican  women,  and  had  become  very  much  at- 
tached to  a  beautiful  native  girl  of  18  years,  and  on  many  occa- 
sions this  girl  would  spend  a  day  and  night  with  Miss  Amherst 
at  her  hotel,  as  she  had  learned  to  speak  English  fairly  well,  and 
was  a  companion  to  the  American  lady.  Miss  Amherst  had  learned 
from  this  girl  that  she  was  a  devoted  Catholic,  and  had  questioned 
her  on  many  occasions  about  their  mode  of  worship;  and  especi- 
ally the  confession  of  her  sins  to  the  Priests,  but  had  been  unable 
to  lead  her  very  far  on  this  subject  as  there  always  seemed  to  be 
something  that  this  girl  did  not  care  to  talk  about,  but.  Miss  Am- 
herst knew  the  effects  of  money  upon  the  native  Puerto  Rican, 
both  male  and  female,  and  bought  Zona  many  trifling  trinkets, 
and  in  this  way  gradually  led  her  to^the  talking  point  on  any  sub- 
ject that  she  might  approach.    It  had  been  noticed  by  Miss  Am- 


28  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM., 

herst  that  Zona  had  to  go  to  confession  every  other  day,  while 
it  was  not  customary  for  the  average  Puerto  Rican  to  confess 
but  once  each  month,  and  determined  to  learn  why  this  girl  was 
an  exception.  She  knew  that  Zona  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
women  of  the  island,  but  had  not  dared  to  dream  that  her  beauty 
was  her  ruin,  but  in  order  that  she  might  learn  why  Zona  was 
required  to  confess  so  often  she  again  resorted  to  money,  and 
told  the  girl  that  she  would  give  her  ten  one  dollar  gold  pieces 
if  she  would  hide  her  in  the  church  near  the  confessional  box 
on  the  night  before  she  (Zona)  went  to  make  her  confession;  this 
the  girl  hesitated  to  do,  saying  that  the  priest  had  told  her  that 
to  repeat  anything  divulged  to  him  during  a  confession  was  sure 
s;o  call  down  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  confessor;  she  also  told 
Miss  Amherst  that  the  priest  she  confessed  to  had  told  her  that 
any  one  who  should  look  in  upon  one  while  confessing  was 
sacrilegious,  and  that  he  had  known  scores  of  persons  who  had 
been  struck  dead  in  their  endeavor  to  see  and  hear  what  might 
transpire  in  the  confessional  box,  thus  Zona  cautioned  the  young 
lady  for  her  own  good,  as  this  simple  native  girl  actually  believed 
what  this  treacherous  and  lustful  priest  had  told  her. 

Miss  Amherst  assured  her  that  she  was  not  afraid,  and  led 
her  to  believe  that  she  had  known  many  who  had  been  secreted 
near  the  confessional  box  and  had  not  suffered  any  bad  results. 
But  this  did  not  seem  to  satisfy  Zona,  and  at  once  this  American 
lady  thought  that  she  could  detect  something  that  was  not  alto- 
gether for  fear  of  dire  vengeance  from  a  supreme  being,  and  set 
about  to  learn  the  true  cause  of  her  not  wanting  her  to  be  near 
when  she  made  her  confession.  She  had  upon  many  occasions 
overcome  all  obstacles  with  money,  and  concluded  that  there 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  29 

must  be  some  amount  that  would  tempt  Zona  to  either  hide  her 
in  the  church  and  let  her  be  near  at  the  time  of  her  confession,  or 
else  hire  her  to  tell  exactly  what  took  place  during  same. 

Miss  Amherst  was  afraid  to  press  the  subject  too  persistently 
for  fear  that  her  anxiety  might  frighten  this  girl,  as  she  was  pos- 
sessed of  no  little  native  cunning,  so  the  subject  was  dropped  for 
the  time  being,  and  all  presents  to  Zona  were  cut  short  by  Miss 
Amherst,  but  at  the  same  time  she  redoubled  her  attention  to  the 
girl,  and  encouraged  her  to  spend  what  money  she  had  from  time 
to  time  given  her.  She  did  this  in  order  to  reduce  the  girl  to  a 
certain  degree  of  want,  knowing  that  money  was  a  great  deal 
more  tempting  to  one  in  want  than  to  one  who  has  the  means  to 
Jupply  their  desires.  In  a  short  time  Zona  had  spent  all  the 
money  she  had,  and  occasionally  would  ask  to  borrow  a  few  cents 
from  Miss  Amherst.  This  the  lady  would  often  refuse,  but 
would  grant  the  request  just  often  enough  to  keep  in  the  good 
graces  of  the  girl. 

There  was  to  be  a  party  in  the  city  in  the  near  future,  and 
the  most  beautiful  women  of  the  island  were  to  attend,  and  no- 
where in  the  world  do  women  vie  with  each  other  in  regard  to 
dress  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  Puerto  Rico,  thus  Miss 
Amherst  at  last  sav/  her  chance  to  gain  the  information  she  so 
much  coveted.  One  morning  Zona  approached  her  in  a  shy, 
hesitating  manner,  and  informed  her  that  there  was  going  to  be 
a  gathering  of  the  most  select  of  the  island,  and  requested  that 
Miss  Amherst  attend,  as  the  greatest  feminine  beauty  of  the  island 
would  be  there.  This  American  lady  replied  that  she  would 
attend  with  her,  but  this  girl,  with  tears  in  her  eyes  informed  her 
that  she  was  not  going,  as  she  had  not  suitable  wearing  apparel. 


30  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


This  greatly  astonished  the  American  lady,  and  she  declared  to 
Zona  that  the  gathering  would  be  a  failure  without  her,  and  sug- 
gested that  she  try  to  borrow  the  money  of  some  of  her  friends, 
in  order  that  she  might  dress  herself  in  accordance  with  her 
wishes.  The  girl  hesitated  for  a  moment  and  said,  'T  have  no 
friends  whom  I  could  borrow  the  money  of,  as  I  have  no  gentle- 
men friends  of  wealth,  and  the  ladies  I  know  who  have  money 
are  jealous  of  my  beauty,  and  would  not  loan  me  money  to  ap- 
pear in  public  and  overshadow  their  beauty." 

Miss  Amherst  asked  about  what  amount  of  money  It  would 
require  to  prepare  for  the  gathering  in  the  style  she  would  desire. 
She  was  informed  that  thirty  dollars  would  array  her  in  good 
taste.  The  American  lady  asked  her  if  she  did  not  think  she 
could  take  fifty  dollars  and  outshine  any  lady  in  Puerto  Rico. 
Zona  replied  that  fifty  dollars  would  dress  her  far  superior  to  any 
lady  ever  seen  at  a  gathering  of  this  kind.  The  suggestion  was 
made  that  perhaps  the  priest  to  whom  she  confessed  miglit  loan 
her  the  money,  but  to  this  remark  Zona  only  shook  her  head,  and 
replied  that  all  favors  in  that  line  came  the  other  way.  At  this, 
Miss  Amherst  took  up  the  thread  she  had  dropped,  and  brought 
Zona  back  to  the  confessional,  and  proposed  that  she  would  give 
her  the  fifty  dollars  to  prepare  for  the  ball  if  she  would  secrete 
her  near  the  confessional  the  next  time  she  went  to  confess  her 
sins,  and  further  agreed  to  give  her  an  extra  twenty-five  dollars 
should  she  need  it,  but  made  Zona  promise  that  the  priest  was  not 
to  know  that  she  was  hid  in  the  church,  and  that  she  (Zona)  was 
to  act  just  the  same  as  though  there  was  no  one  in  the  church, 
and  also  informed  her  that  this  money  was  not  to  be  given  her 
until  after  the  confession  was  over. 

The  girl  hesitated  for  some  time,  but  the  thoughts  of  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  33 

fifty  or  seventy-five  dollars  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  forget,  as 
she  could  see  social  prestige  after  that  gaudy  display  of  raiment 
and  female  charms,  so  she  told  Miss  Amherst  that  she  would  do 
as  she  requested,  if  she  would  promise  her  that  she  would  never, 
never  tell  what  she  might  see  or  hear.  This  she  assured  the  girl 
should  not  happen  so  long  as  there  was  any  danger  to  her  by 
divulging  it.  This  perfectly  satisfied  Zona,  and  on  the  following 
evening,  when  both  priest  and  parishioner  were  spending  the 
evening  in"  some  cafe  or  place  of  amusement.  Zona  and  Miss  Am- 
herst stole  away  from  the  hotel,  and  in  a  roundabout  manner 
reached  the  church,  and  easily  found  an  entrance  to  the  basement 
of  the  church,  from  which  they  clambered  up  a  dark  stairway  to 
a  side  door  that  Zona  unlocked,  which  she  said  afterwards  was 
the  door  that  she  had  often  passed  through  in  visiting  the  priest, 
as  he  had  furnished  her  a  key  to  come  and  go  at  her  will. 

We  will  now  let  Miss  Amherst  repeat  what  she  saw  and 
heard  in  her  own  language : 

"When  the  door  to  that  great  building  called  a  church 
opened,  and  I  looked  about  me,  my  heart  stood  still  with  fear,  as 
on  every  hand  was  visible  bones  which  Catholics  claim  were  at 
one  time  parts  of  living  saints.  Lighted  tapers  cast  an  unnatural 
light  over  every  thing,  and  I  almost  faltered  in  my  undertaking, 
but  I  made  a  desperate  effort  to  compose  myself,  and  bade  Zona 
good  night  after  she  had  shown  me  where  I  could  secrete  myself 
to  be  near  the  confessional  box- next. day  when  she  called.  It  was 
far  into  the  night  when  we  arrived  at  the  church,  as  I  wished  to 
shorten  the  night  as  much  as  possible.  When  Zona's  footsteps 
were  heard  to  leave  the  church,  a  most  miserable  girl  was  I,  and 

(3) 


34  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

had  I  known  how  to  have  escaped  that  idolatrous  place  I  most 
s-urely  would  not  now  be  chronicling  what  I  saw  and  heard. 

"1  spent  the  night  in  wretched  wakefulness,  and  imagine  my 
delight  when  the  first  streaks  of  coming  day  penetrated  the 
stained  windows  of  that  church.  Promptly  at  six  o'clock  the 
church  was  thrown  open,  and  the  sexton  grasped  the  cord  that 
reached  to  the  belfry,  and  the  thundering  peals  of  that  bell  still 
ring  in  my  ears.  In  a  very  short  time,  the  inhabitants  began  pour- 
ing in,  but  before  these  the  priest  had  arrived  and  glided  about 
the  church  with  cat-like  tread.  His  members  consisted  of  the  rich 
and  poor,  high  and  low,  in  fact,  every  class  and  condition  in  life 
were  represented,  but  I  noticed  from  my  hiding  place  behind  the 
drapery  that  the  rich  and  beautiful  ladies  received  the  greatest 
attention  from  this  priest.  It  was  simply  disgusting  to  see  these 
miserable,  deluded  creatures  mumble  unintelligible  nothings  at 
the  feet  of  this  priest,  and  kiss  his  hands,  and  often  would  em- 
brace his  knees. 

"Mass  was  over  within  an  hour,  and  the  church  was  again 
closed,  and  then  my  actual  suspense  began,  as  half-past  ten 
o'clock  was  the  time  that  Zona  said  she  would  call  to  make  her 
confession.  These  hours  slipped  by  sooner  than  I  expected,  and 
about  ten  o'clock  a  side  door  was  opened,  and  the  form  of  the 
priest  was  seen  to  enter  the  church,  and  take  his  seat,  not  in  the 
confessional,  or  the  seat  set  apart  for  the  priests  to  hear  the  con- 
fession of  their  members,  but  he  drew  a  cushioned  chair  up  near 
the  altar,  and  imagine  my  surprise  when  he  drew  forth  a  fragrant 
Havana  cigar  and  began  smoking,  as  though  he  was  in  a  corner 
grocery.    Nor  did  he  stop  at  this,  for  within  a  very  short  time  he 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  35 

had  hummed  several  familiar  ditties,  and  even  in  a  low  strain  had 
whistled  several  tunes  that  I  only  supposed  was  known  by  the 
very  semi-decent  of  any  country. 

"The  time  had  arrived,  yes  passed,  for  on  looking  at  my  watch 
I  discovered  that  it  only  wanted  fifteen  minutes  till  eleven.  Great 
beads  of  sweat  gathered  upon  my  brow  when  the  thought  struck 
me  that  Zona  had  played  me  false,  for  how  could  I  ever  get  out 
of  that  awful  place  alone,  and  to  make  my  presence  known  was 
to  call  down  upon  my  head  sure  death.  I  simply  gasped  for 
breath  and  wrung  my  hands  in  anguish.  The  seconds  grew  into 
minutes,  and  the  minutes  into  hours.  The  priest  had  evidently 
been  disappointed,  as  he  had  begun  to  grow  restless,  and  walked 
up  and  down  the  aisles  in  impatience.  I  had  about  made  up  my 
mind  that  I  had  been  deceived,  when  I  heard  a  click  of  the  little 
door  that  Zona  and  I  had  entered  the  night  before,  and  in  another 
instant  the  priest  rushed  forward  and  greeted  Zona  with  the  same 
ardent  and  affectionate  caresses,  and  sweet  nothings  that  a  be- 
trothed lover  would  the  idol  of  his  heart's  affections.  Placing 
one  arm  about  her  shapely  waist,  he  led  her  to  the  cushioned 
chair  beside  the  altar,  and  if  there  was  any  cause  for  confession 
to  be  made,  it  was  most  surely  upon  the  part  of  the  priest.  I  will 
acknowledge  that  I  have  in  my  time  read  several  novels  where  the 
lover  used  extravagant  language,  and  swore  that  his  love  was  as 
pure  and  abiding  as  heaven  itself,  but  never  before  had  I  ever 
heard  such  appeals  made  to  mortal  woman.  He  declared  that  he 
would  strangle  a  nation  to  gratify  one  whim  of  hers;  that  he 
would  denounce  the  world,  yea  even  risk  his  soul  in  defense  of 
one  wish  or  demand  she  might  make.  It  was  evident  that  his  love 
was  animal,  and  did  not  emanate  from  the  deep,  God-given 


se  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


spring  of  pure  emotions  that  bind  human  souls  together  with  a 
golden  cord  that  only  death  can  sever. 

"I  draw  the  curtains  for  a  space  of  time.  *  *  *  i  find 
myself  alone  once  more,  the  church  is  still  as  death.  My  mind  was 
a  cyclone  of  thought.  Had  I  been  dreaming,  had  I  heard  and 
seen  what  rushed  through  my  mind,  or  was  it  a  miserable  night- 
mare. No,  I  realized  that  I  lived,  and  how  I  longed  for  two 
o'clock  to  come,  which  was  the  time  that  Zona  was  to  call  for  me. 
The  time  at  last  arrived,  and  Zona  shamefacedly  called,  and  led 
me  into  the  open  light  of  day  once  more.  Not  a  word  was  said 
until  we  reached  our  hotel,  when  Zona  spoke  first,  saying,  'Now, 
my  dear  Miss,  can  I  get  the  money?'  Imagine  my  utter  amaze- 
ment at  this  child  not  having  the  least  apparent  hesitancy  in  de- 
manding so  quickly  the  bribe  offered  for  exposing  both  herself 
and  the  priest.  I  pitied  her ;  miy  very  soul  was  embittered  against 
the  name  Catholicism.  I  paid  her  the  money,  and  often  after  that 
I  gave  her  sums  of  money  to  be  used  by  her  for  the  necessities  of 
life,  but  not  another  penny  to  buy  gew-gaws  that  she  might  out- 
rival some  native  beauty,  as  her  beauty  had  already  been  her 
ruin.  She  attended  the  ball,  and  I  never  before  nor  since  have 
seen  such  an  exquisitely  beautiful  woman.  She  remained  with 
me  many  weeks  but  on  each  occasion  that  she  was  to  go  to  confes- 
sion, I  bade  her  to  remain  with  me,  and  to  my  certain  knowledge 
she  never  was  in  that  church  but  once  after  that  eventful  day.  I 
am  glad  to  know  that  I  showed  her  the  evil  of  Catholicism,  and 
she  now  lives  in  the  island,  a  loved  and  petted  wife,  and  her  hus- 
band is  a  true  Protestant,  but  not  a  Christian. 

"The  last  time  I  ever  saw  Zona,  she  was  as  true  a  Protestant 
as  any  American  woman  that  lives,  and  her  beauty  had  increased 
instead  of  fading.  Light  on  Catholicism  and  her  insidious  doings, 
makes  Protestants  in  every  land." 


> 


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&  B 

n'  ^ 

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O 


Chapter  IV. 

Why  Cuba  Suffered. 


TLe  benighted  and  oppressed  masses  of  Cuba,  are  to  be 
pitied,  for  they  were  led  by  idolatrous  leaders — leaders  whose 
every  thought  was  self.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Cuba  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  those  who  could,  only 
had  superstitious  literature,  conjured  up  by  the  selfish  and  lustful 
Priest-craft  that  they  might  more  securely  bind  their  already 
ignorant  subjects.  The  following  is  a  prayer  that  the  head  of 
each  Cuban  family  vAio  belonged  to  the  Catholic  Church  was 
compelled  to  read  each  day,  and  if  he  could  not  read  was  forced 
to  memorize  and  repeat  to  his  family  each  morning  before  begin- 
ning  the  day's  labor  and  each  evening  before  retiring,  and  failure 
to  do  so  meant  severe  punishment  by  the  Parish  Priest. 

The  Prayer. 

"We  thank  the  Father  (here  the  name  of  their  Priest), 
and  God  for  allowing  us  to  live,  our  own  bodies  are  thine,  the 
bodies  of  our  wives  and  children  are  thine,  and  should  we  ever 


40  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

complain  of  thy  treatment  before  man,  or  even  dream  in  our 
sleep  that  thou  couldst  do  wrong,  we  ask  the  Pope,  who  is  the 
ruler  of  the  whole  earth,  and  who  holds  the  keys  of  heaven,  to 
cause  us  to  be  burned  alive.  Father  (here  name  of  the  Priest), 
all  that  we  have  is  thine,  we  know  thou  art  pure,  we  know  thou 
art  a  part  of  God,  and  we  submit  our  all  to  thee,  even  unto  our 
lives,  even  unto  our  children,  and  will  flee  our  beds  that  we  may 
prove  to  thee  that  we  know  that  no  act  of  thine  is  impure.  We 
swear  this  by  the  fore-arm' of  St.  Anne,  and  the  bones  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  the  holy  teeth  of  St.  Peter  that  we  will  always 
love  thee  dearer  than  our  own  families." 

Cuba  suffered,  but  the  hand  of  God  was  seen  in  her  suffer- 
ings, for  the  Protestant  world  had  to  be  aroused  before  the  chains 
of  Catholicism  could  be  broken  from  the  bleeding  ankles  of 
the  natives  of  these  unhappy  islands.  The  substance,  the  back- 
bone, the  vitality  from  which  the  Catholic  Church  draws  her  ex- 
istence comes  from  the  densely  ignorant  of  all  nations.  We  make 
this  declaration  without  the  least  fear  of  a  successful  contradic- 
tion. We  are  aware  that  there  are  many  intelligent  Catholics, 
but  they  are  only  Catholics  in  name,  and  because  their  early  train- 
ing binds  them  with  a  recollection  of  father  or  mother  being  a 
Catholic,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  conjuring  devices  that  are 
practiced  upon  the  ignorant,  they  become  disgusted.  But  these 
silly  mumblings  are  not  practiced  in  the  presence  of  the  more  in- 
telligent Catholics,  as  the  priestcraft  know  that  their  heathenish 
practices  will  not  go  with  intelligent  persons,  so  they  cater  to  this 
better  class  of  their  members  in  order  that  they  may  give  some 
semblance  of  dignity  to  their  doctrines,  and  the  more  easily  hoodr 
wink  the  ignorant. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM.  41 

There  is  not  a  nation  on  earth  where  the  CathoHc  religion 
predominates  but  what  you  will  find  dense  ignorance,  with  no 
love  of  country,  and  with  no  more  patriotism  than  the  American 
Indian  had  one  hundred  years  ago.  We  dc  not  have  to  visit  Cuba, 
Puerto  Rico,  or  the  Philippine  Islands  to  demonstrate  the  fact 
that  Catholicism  is  based  upon  ignorance,  and  her  fundamental 
principles  are  superstition.  Let  us  visit  any  of  our  large  cities 
in  America,  and  take  the  census  and  compare  the  results.  We  will 
classify  the  inhabitants  into  two  classes,  one  Protestants  and  the 
other  Catholics,  and  then  learn  from  inquiry  the  per  cent  that  are 
educated,  and  uneducated,  and  from  statistics  we  learn  that  in 
the  City  of  New  York  78  per  cent  of  all  the  Catholic  inhabitants 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  upon  the  other  hand,  there  are 
but  15  2-3  per  cent  of  Protestants  but  what  can  both  read  and 
write. 

In  the  State  of  Illinois  there  is  but  one  Catholic  family  out 
of  every  twelve  that  takes  a  newspaper,  and  in  the  same  State 
there  is  but  one  Protestant  family  out  of  every  twelve  but  what 
does  take  some  kind  of  a  newspaper,  thus  you  see  we  do  not  have 
to  leave  our  own  shores  to  find  ample  reasons  why  ignorance  is  a 
fundamental  and  necessary  principle  of  Romanism,  for  as  soon 
as  the  cobwebs  of  superstition  are  brushed  from  the  benighted 
brain,  the  intelligence  of  mankind  rebels  against  things  that  are 
so  grossly  diagonal  to  human  reason. 

Priests  tell  their  members  that  they  are  called  by  God  to  do 
the  thinking  for  you  and  your  families,  and  that  they  alone  are 
responsible  for  your  salvation,  and  that  you  should  bow  the  knee 
to  them  in  humble  confession  of  your  sins.  If  we  are  not  men 
and  women   of   reason,  and   have  no  power  to  save  ourselves 


42  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

through  our  own  actions,  then  we  are  not  above  the  commonest 
dumb  animal  that  exists. 

To  convince  one's  self  of  the  narrowness  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  and  how  their  subjects  are  inferior  in  everything  to  Prot- 
estantism, visit  a  school  completely  under  the  influence  of  papal 
power  and  one  run  by  the  free  and  untrammeled  powers  of  Pro- 
testants and  question  the  scholars,  and  you  will  find  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  children  of  Catholic  schools  confined  to  the  narrow 
and  biased  teachings  of  Romanism,  and  not  even  an  elementary 
understanding  of  the  things  that  make  a  nation  great  by  the 
knowledge  of  its  people,  while  upon  the  other  hand  the  small  boy 
and  girl  at  tender  ages  in  the  public  schools  of  this  country  are 
taught  everything  that  tends  to  make  patriotic,  useful  men  and 
women,  men  and  women  who  have  lifted  America  head  and 
shoulders  above  every  other  nation  on  earth. 


Chapter  V. 

A  Priest's  Confession. 


I  was  a  Priest,  I  am  an  ex-Priest,  but  I  never  was  a  Priest  in 
the  meaning  of  the  Romanism  of  to-day.  I  was  a  Priest  because 
my  aim  was  to  serve  God,  and  help  save  fallen  humanity,  and  not 
be  the  cause  of  polluting  innocent  girls  and  leading  astray  loving 
wives. 

In  the  beginning  of  my  priesthood,  I  was  not  a  little  sur- 
prised and  embarrassed  to  see  a  very  accomplished  and  beautiful 
young  lady,  whom  I  used  to  meet  almost  -every  week,  entering 
the  box  of  my  confessional.  She  had  been  used  to  confess  to 
another  young  priest  of  my  acquaintance;  and  she  was  always 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  pious  girls  of  the  city.  She  dis- 
guised herself,  and  began  by  saying, — 

Dear  father,  I  hope  you  do  not  know  me,  and  that  you 
will  never  try  to  know  me.  I  am  a  desperately  great  sinner.  Be- 
fore I  begin  my  confession,  allow  me  to  ask  you  not  to  pollute 
my  ears  by  questions  which  our  confessors  are  in  the  habit  of 
putting  to  their  female  penitents :  I  have  already  been  destroyed 
by  those  questions.    Before  I  was  seventeen  years  old,  the  chap- 


44  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

lain  of  the  nunnery  where  my  parents  had  sent  me  for  my  educa- 
tion, though  approaching  old  age,  put  to  me,  in  confessional,  a 
question  which,  when  understood,  plunged  my  thoughts  into  a 
sea  of  iniquity  till  then  absolutely  unknown  to  me.  As  a 
result,  she  was  ruined.  She  became  the  counterpart  of  the  priest. 
She  fell  so  low  that  she  declared  'I  had  a  real  pleasure  in  con- 
versing with  my  priest  on  these  matters,  and  enjoyed  his  lustful 
talk,  as  I  had  been  connected  so  long  with  these  people  that  I  had 
fallen  so  low  that  my  soul  enjoyed  nothing  above  the  most 
debased. 

I  was  amazed;  my  soul  rebelled  against  the  Catholic  Church, 
against  all  and  everything  that  pertained  to  the  papal  intrigue, 
but  I  had  been  reared  by  Catholic  parents,  and  my  life  was  a  com- 
plete bundle  of  deception,  but  I  had  fought  against  arriving  at  the 
conclusion  that  the  Catholic  Church  was  not  the  church.  I  ask 
the  world  to  forgive  me  for  what  encouragement  I  have  extended 
this  body  of  conspirators,  and  believe  that  I  will  be  liberally  dealt 
with  when  the  liberal  minded  consider  how  hard  it  is  to  shake  off 
a  belief  that  was  instilled  into  my  very  soul  from  babyhood,  but, 
thank  God,  I  was  lead  into  the  light,  and  as  soon  as  I  was  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  I  was  a  promulgator  of  everything  that 
leads  humanity  down  instead  of  up,  I  threw  myself  upon  the  All 
Wise  Ruler  of  the  universe,  and  was  lead  out  into  the  blessed 
light  of  liberty. 

[When  this  poor  girl  had  expressed  herself  as  she  did,  I  re- 
solved to  learn  of  others,  if  they  had  ever  underwent  such  trying 
ordeals,  and  had  been  made  spoils  for  ungodly  men  under  the 
guise  of  spiritual  instructors.  As  my  parishioners  would  come 
to  make  their  confession,  I  would  bluntly  ask  them  if  they  had 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  45 

ever  been  asked  questions  that  had  fceen  repeated  to  me  by  this 
poor  girl  who  had  fallen  so  low  through  the  influences  of  the 
priestcraft.  I  only  asked  these  questions  of  single  girls,  as  I 
knew  that  the  married  ones  would  not  give  up  a  secret  of  this 
kind,  and  I  did  not  want  to  be  forced  to  believe  that  mortal  man 
who  went  under  the  cloak  of  religion  could  fall  so  low  as  to  creep 
into  the  affections  of  a  man's  wife,  and  after  he  had  gained  her 
confidence,  with  one  awful  blow  destroy  all  that  is  dear  to  man- 
kind— honor.  I  began  by  requesting  each  young  lady  who  called 
upon  me  to  repeat  exactly  what  questions  other  priests  had  asked 
them,  as  I  did  not  want  to  pollute  their  ears  with  any  thing  which 
they  were  not  accustomed  to. 

Very  distinctly  I  remember  one  morning  a  girl  of  about 
twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age  called  to  confess.  She  was  a  girl 
of  unusual  beauty  and  development  for  one  of  her  age.  I  began  by 
asking  her  who  was  her  confessor  previous  to  myself;  she  readily 
informed  me.  I  asked  her  if  he  was  not  a  young  man,  which  I 
knew  was  the  case;  she  replied  that  he  was.  Then  I  asked  her 
to  tell  me  what  questions  he  had  asked  her.  Imagine  my  surprise 
when  she  told  me  that  the  first  time  she  had  ever  confessed  to  him 
that  he  had  asked  her  'Why  she  wore  her  dresses  so  long,  as  it 
was  a  shame  to  hide  such  beautiful  ankles.'  She  further  told  me 
that  each  time  that  she  confessed  that  this  priest  would  always 
treat  her  to  wine,  and  if  it  was  cold  weather,  he  would  make  her 
a  warm  drink  out  of  whisky.  I  lectured  this  child,  and  told  her  that 
this  priest  was  a  miserable  man,  and  that  God  was  very  much  dis- 
pleased with  him,  and  instructed  her  that  no  priest  should  talk 
as  he  had  done.  This  lecture  seemed  to  mystify  the  poor  girl,  as 
she  told  me  that  what  a  priest  said  or  did  could  not  be  a  sin,  as  it 
was  impossible  for  a  priest  to  sin. 


46  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


My  mind  reeled  with  fear.  I  was  disgusted  with  myself;  dis- 
gusted with  my  life;  in  fact,  disgusted  with  everything  that  per- 
tained to  the  priesthood.  I  had  four  dear,  sweet  sisters,  all  of 
whom  were  Catholics,  and  my  mind  flew  back  to  my  native  home 
on  the  emerald  isle,  and  I  thought,  was  it  possible  that  some  priest 
had  dared  to  throttle  the  womanhood  of  one  of  these  dear  girls. 
My  wrath  knew  no  bounds,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  in  that  mo- 
ment, that  if  I  lived  a  thousand  years,  that  when  I  left  the  church 
that  evening  it  should  be  the  last  time  so  long  as  I  lived  that  I 
would  ever  again  put  upon  my  back  the  robes  of  a  priest. 

I  dismissed  this  girl  with  the  instruction  to  tell  her  parents 
whenever  a  priest  dared  to  ask  her  improper  questions.  This  was 
the  regular  confessional  day,  and  before  its  close,  seventeen  un- 
married women  had  called  upon  me,  and  thirteen  out  of  the 
seventeen  had  repeated  to  me  what  the  world  could  not  hire  me 
to  send  broadcast  through  the  land.  Think  of  it !  Out  of  seven- 
teen girls  who,  perhaps,  had  never  entertained  an  idea  that  was 
not  pure,  had  been  interrogated  upon  subjects  that  would  put 
to  blush  the  cheek  of  any  respectable  man,  much  less  a  girl  of  ten- 
der years.  The  remainder  of  my  unmarried  confessionists  that 
day,  I  must  say,  were,  indeed,  everything  but  good-looking,  so  I 
suppose  this  was  why  they  had  escaped  the  foul  mouths  of  these 
licentious  priests.  As  each  one  would  rise  to  go,  I  would  instruct 
them  that  no  priest  had  any  right  to  ask  such  questions  as  they 
had  been  asked,  and  I  further  informed  them  that  they  should  go 
to  their  Father  in  Heaven,  and  not  earthly  men. 

I  had  quite  a  number  of  married  ladies  call  upon  me  that  day, 
and  I  wondered  to  myself  how  many  of  these  wives  and  mothers 
had  been  insulted  by  some  ruffian  priest  who  parades  in  the  robes 
of  the  church. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  47 

I  left  the  church  that  evening  with  my  mind  fully  made  up 
that  never  again  would  I  enter  a  Catholic  church  as  a  priest,  and 
on  my  way  to  my  boarding  place  that  evening  I  met  a  brother 
priest,  and  related  my  experience  to  him,  and  he  laughed  at  me, 
and  called  me  "feminish,"  and  assured  me  that  priests  as  well  as 
other  mortals  were  blood  and  flesh,  and  why  expect  to  find 
heavenly  thoughts  in  earthly  bodies.  I  was  paralyzed  at  the 
thought  of  this  gray-haired  priest  giving  sanction,  in  fact,  en- 
couraging what  to  any  right  thinking  man  was  the  greatest  sin 
possible  to  commit.  I  reached  my  room  in  perfect  disgust.  I  tore 
my  unholy  robes  asunder.  I  asked  a  living  God  to  pardon  me  for 
the  part  I  had  played  in  being  made  a  part  of  a  gigantic  machine 
that  polluted  virtue,  and  led  astray  daughters  of  fond  parents, 
and  alienated  the  affections  of  loving  wives,  and  darkened  the 
threshold  of  happy  homes. 

I  am  an  American  to-day.  I  am  Protestant  for  all  the  word 
implies.  I  am  married,  and  have  a  loving  wife  and  three  daugh- 
ters that  I  would  as  soon  see  go  to  their  graves  as  to  enter  the 
confessional  box.  Yea,  it  would  be  with  more  pleasure  than 
to  see  them  left  to  the  lustful,  unfeeling  and  inhuman  care  of  a 
Rom*an  priest.  I  am  an  ex-priest  in  name,  and  an  ex-Catholic 
through  the  love  of  God. 


Priest  Gonzellot 


Chapter  VI. 

Blood  of  the  Innocent  Shed  for  Revenge. 


Priest  Gonzello,  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  is  one  of  the  most 
blood-thirsty  priests  of  modern  times,  and  until  recently  had 
boasted  that  no  man,  woman  or  child  who  lived  within  the  bounds 
of  his  parish  dared  to  displease  him,  as  he  had  long  since  taught 
them  that  he  was  their  superior  through  and  by  the  power  of  the 
Pope,  therefore  both  their  souls  and  bodies  were  his  to  do  with 
as  it  might  please  his  priestship.  In  the  early  part  of  1898  he 
summoned  all  of  his  parishioners  together,  and  instructed  them 
that  the  American  Government  had  threatened  to  invade  their 
Island,  but  assured  them  that  he  that  morning  had  received  a 
message  direct  from  God  giving  him  the  power  to  strike  dead 
every  American  who  dared  come  within  a  hundred  leagues  of 
their  shores,  and  in  order  to  impress  his  people  with  his  power 
he  singled  out  a  young  woman  in  the  audience  whom  he  had 
ruined,  and  who  had  endeavored  to  denounce  him  to  a  party  of 
English  tourists,  and  had  her  bound  hand  and  foot  with  steel 
wire,  one  end  of  this  wire  leading  to  the  platform  where  he  wgs 


50  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

standing,  which  concealed  a  powerful  battery  charged  with 
electricity.  After  fastening  one  end  of  this  wire  to  the  battery, 
which  was  not  understood  by  the  natives,  he  demanded  of  this 
poor  girl  whom  he  had  ruined  to  publicly  declare  that  she  had 
lied.  This  the  girl  stubbornly  refused  to  do.  Then  this  fiendish 
priest  who  declares  that  he  is  the  vicar  of  God,  in  order  to  do 
away  with  his  accuser,  asks  the  audience  if  they  would  believe  him, 
if  he  should  command  God  to  strike  her  dead,  and  his  command 
was  obeyed.  O^/ course  the  reply  on  every  hand  was  yes.  He, 
stretching  his  hands  toward  heaven,  with  his  foot  on  the  button 
called  upon  God  to  strike  him  dead  if  what  this  girl  had  accused 
him  of  was  true.  As  soon  as  the  audience  saw  that  this  great 
calamity  he  had  asked  to  befall  him  was  not  answered,  he  then  in 
a  similar  tone  of  voice,  but  affecting  to  be  very  contrite  in  spirit, 
offered  up  a  prayer  for  this  girl,  and  asked  the  Divine  Being  to 
show  her  the  error  of  her  way,  and  cause  her  to  repent  before  it 
was  everlastingly  too  late.  He  affected  to  be  in  great  earnestness, 
and  seemingly  prayed  in  great  earnestness  for  quite  awhile,  then 
turning  to  the  girl  asked  her  if  she  would  publicly  acknowledge 
that  she  had  lied  before  he  called  down  the  wrath  of  God  upon 
her.  This  she  stubbornly  refused  to  do.  It  seemed  that  he  hesi- 
tated to  commit  the  awful  crime  that  he  was  about  to  do,  and 
asked  his  audience  if  he  should  let  her  live.  He  had  aroused  the 
morbid  curiosity  of  these  natives,  and  they  insisted  that  if  he  had 
the  power  to  destroy  her,  and  that  if  she  had  lied,  she  should  be 
punished. 

He  had  gone  too  far,  as  to  turn  back  now  was  to  acknowl- 
edge that  he  could  not  do  what  he  claimed,  so  he  wished  to  have 
ithc  sympathy  of  all  the  natives,  and  gave  this  poor  girl  another 


mNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  61 


chance  to  declare  that  she  had  falsely  accused  him,  but  he  found 
her  as  resolute  as  before.  By  this  time  the  natives  were  inclined 
to  believe  what  she  had  said,  and  had  begun  to  doubt  his  power 
to  demonstrate  his  influence  with  the  Supreme  Being.  This  priest, 
in  an  unintelligible  mumble,  chanted  a  lengthy  lot  of  silliness,  and 
had  his  audience  cross  themselves,  and  then  solemnly  called  upon 
his  Maker  to  witness  the  destruction  of  an  enemy  of  the  cross,  at 
the  same  time  pressing  the  button,  with  the  toe  of  his  sandal,  that 
opened  the  valve  of  this  electric  battery  and  sent  a  current  of 
death-dealing  electricity  through  the  body  of  this  poor  girl.  This 
ungodly  and  murderous  priest  solemnly  stood  with  closed  eyes, 
and  uplifted  hands  towards  heaven,  pressing  a  current  of  death 
into  the  body  of  this  wronged  girl  until  she  was  literally  roasted 
alive.  When  the  natives  saw  what  had  happened,  they  were  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  Priest  Gonzello  had  direct  power  from 
God,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  his  every  wish  has  been  obeyed 
with  fear  and  trembling.  When  any  of  his  parishioners  become 
stubborn,  or  hesitate  to  obey  his  tyrannical  commands,  it  is  only 
necessary  for  him  to  threaten  to  call  down  the  wrath  of  God  upon 
them,  and  his  demands  are  at  once  complied  with.  It  was  this 
priest  who  threatened  to  burn  the  world  up  unless  he  was  given 
a  certain  amount  of  money  by  a  certain  time,  and  his  parishioners 
were  so  confident  of  his  power  to  do  this  that  each  and  every  one 
made  a  personal  sacrifice  in  order  to  raise  this  money,  and  within 
three  days  from  the  time  he  made  this  demand,  the  fabulous 
amount  was  laid  at  his  feet,  which  he  took,  and  left  the  island  for 
Spain,  and  has  never  returned.  He  did  this  in  order  to  evade 
meeting  the  stern  and  unrelaxing  hand  of  Protestantism,  which 
he  knew  would  soon  place  its  foot  upon  the  neck  of  superstitious 
and  idolatrous  Catholicism. 


52  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

The  same  blind,  superstitious,  abhorrent  methods  are  re- 
sorted to  in  every  land  where  Cathohcism  exists,  but  only  in  dif- 
ferent forms.  Right  under  our  noses,  in  America,  the  priestcraft 
make  demands  that  their  followers  are  afraid  to  refuse,  for  fear  of 
some  dire  calamity  befalling  them.  You  will  see  a  Catholic  enter 
a  saloon  and  get  reeling  drunk,  and  should  there  be  a  brawl 
started  and  some  one  draw  a  revolver,  this  inebriate  follower  of 
the  Pope  will  cross  himself;  this  he  does  in  order  to  evade  danger 
to  himself.  All  Catholics  wear  a  picture  of  a  holy  being  around 
their  necks,  resting  upon  their  breast.  This  they  claim  wards 
off  disease,  and  makes  them  immune  to  danger. 

All  followers  of  popish  doctrines  carry  beads,  and  pray  to 
these  beads  with  as  much  assurance  of  a  blessing  as  the  enlight- 
ened man  or  woman  would  go  in  secret  to  a  living  God.  You  do 
not  have  to  leave  your  own  State  to  find  blind,  and  heathenish, 
and  even  hellish  practices  that  ought  to  have  been  buried  in  the 
time  of  Josephus, 

The  writer  remembers  one  evening  sitting  in  his  office  talk- 
ing to  a  friend,  when  an  old,  decrepit  Irish  woman  walked  in, 
and  asked  for  a  dime.  I  asked  why  she  was  not  in  some  home  for 
the  poor,  as  there  were  a  number  of  places  where  she  could  have 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  not  be  exposed  to  all  the  elements  that 
made  the  young  and  vigorous  quake.  She  replied,  "that  she  was 
in  a  Catholic  institution,  but  that  the  priest  of  her  parish  had  in- 
structed all  of  the  inmates  that  they  must  each  raise  $2.00  that 
day,  in  some  way,  as  his  parish  must  send  so  much  money  to  the 
.Vatican  at  Rome,  and  the  old  and  infirm  could  be  more  success- 
ful, as  they  would  be  objects  of  pity,  and  the  public  would  donate 
through  sympathy,"    I  asked  her  how  much  money  she  had  se- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  53 

cured  during  the  day,  as  it  was  then  nearly  four  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  and  she  broke  out  in  tears,  her  poor,  old  form  shivering 
with  cold,  and  replied  "fifty-five  cents."  In  my  heart  I  inwardly 
cursed  the  Catholic  world,  but  my  soul  was  touched  with  com- 
passion for  this  poor,  old  soul,  wandering  around  in  a  big  city, 
afraid  to  return  to  her  shelter  that  night  on  account  of  not  having 
secured  enough  money  to  appease  an  infamous  and  greedy  priest- 
craft that  they  might  receive  an  applaudit  from  Rome. 

I  gently  took  this  old  woman's  hand  in  mine,  and  gave  her 
one  dollar  and  forty-five  cents  in  order  that  she  might  return 
home,  also  gave  her  car  fare  that  she  might  not  have  to  trudge 
two  miles.  With  streaming  eyes,  this  poor,  old,  ignorant  creature 
kissed  my  hands,  and  when  she  went  to  leave  me,  she  drew  forth 
from  an  old  soiled  red  handkerchief,  a  small  bone,  and  touched  it 
to  my  forehead.  I  asked  her  what  this  bone  was,  and  wherein 
was  there  any  virtue?  She  replied  that  the  priest  had  given  her 
this  bone,  saying  it  was  from  the  arm  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  it 
would  bring  luck  and  happiness  to  any  one  it  touched.  I  pitied 
this  poor,  old,  ignorant  slave  of  Catholicism,  and  bowed  my  head 
in  sorrow  to  know  of  such  blind  superstition  being  tolerated 
upon  the  shores  of  beautiful,  free  and  independent,  and,  by  rights, 
Protestant  America. 


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Chapter  VII. 

Nunneries  and  Convents. 


Darkness  is  the  priest's  paradise.  They  prefer  darkness  to 
light;  their  deeds  take  on  the  hue  of  midnight.  If  God  Almighty's 
handwriting  is  legible,  then  gaze  into  the  countenances  of  priests 
and  you  will  find  a  down-cast  look,  a  lack  of  manly  frankness  that 
you  will  find  in  the  face  of  the  godly  man.  Try  as  you  may  to 
have  them  look  you  squarely  in  the  eye  and  your  failure  will  dis- 
gust you. 

If  there  is  any  place  connected  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  that  people  suppose  is  removed  from  sin  and  strife,  from 
impurity,  from  worldliness,  from  the  gratification  of  the  flesh, 
it  is  the  nunnery,  convent,  or  monastery.  The  facts  prove  that 
if  there  is  any  place  which  is  next  door  to  hell,  in  more  ways  than 
can  be  described  in  language,  it  is  found  in  the  convent,  monas- 
tery, or  nunnery.  These  are  words, — empty  words  if  unsus- 
tained  by  facts.  Let  facts  weight  them.  If  nunneries,  convents, 
and  monasteries  are  a  blessing,  the  people  of  Italy  ought  to  know 
it.    If  they  are  pronounced  a  curse  by  the  people  of  Italy,  their 


56  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

verdict  ought  to  pass  current  in  other  lands.  They  have  pro- 
nounced them  a  nuisance,  and  barrier  to  progress.  Nothing  can 
be  more  foolish  than  the  respect  shown  these  nuns  and  sisters 
with  their  white  bonnets  and  black  cloaks,  crowding  our  street- 
cars, and  filling  great  overgrov/n  establishments  in  all  our  cities. 
They  are  white  sepulchres,  beautiful  in  appearance,  but  within — 
let  others  describe  them. 

The  Italy  of  the  monks  and  popes  has  been  made  by  them  the 
habitation  of  devils,  and  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage 
of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird.  Beautiful  for  situation,  em- 
bracing one  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  being  in  size  about 
equal  to  New  England  and  New  York,  if  her  people  were  Chris- 
tianized she  would  be  the  glory  of  Europe.  Alas !  sin  has  reigned 
there.  Every  prospect  pleases,  and  only  man  is  vile.  Rome, 
with  its  wolfish  progenitor  which  suckled  Romulus  and  Remus, 
have  suckled  and  brought  up  to  maturity  octopuses  which  have 
poisoned  the  body  politic  of  Italy,  and  has  been  the  cause  of  drag- 
ging down  lower  into  the  quagmires  of  untold  misery  more  inno- 
cent and  ignorant  girls  than  all  the  brothels  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Suppose  that  we  analyze  the  subject  of  nunneries  and 
convents,  and  it  will  be  seen  why  it  is  such  an  easy  matter  for  the 
traducers  of  virtue  to  pull  down  to  destruction  the  females  who 
have  been  taught  from  infancy  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  priest 
to  sin. 

It  is  easy  for  monks  and  depraved  priests  to  seduce,  by  the 
means  of  confession,  especially  among  the  lower  orders,  females 
who  live  in  the  world ;  the  thing  becomes  still  more  so  relatively 
to  the  nuns  confined  in  convents.  Depravity  introduced  into 
those  houses  spreads  like  an  epidemic,  with  symptoms  and  conse- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  57 

quences  more  or  less  fatal,  according  to  the  nature  and  inclina- 
tions of  individuals. 

This  species  of  wickedness,  as  I  have  had  opportunities  of 
convincing  myself  from  information  derived  from  different  jour- 
neys in  Italy,  France  and  Spain,  is  less  uncommon  than  is  sup- 
posed, especially  in  countries  where  the  priests,  and  principally 
the  monks,  have  much  influence,  and  enjoy  the  consideration  of 
the  people.  Most  of  the  seductions  that  take  place  in  what  is 
called  the  tribunal  of  penitence,  remain  unknown  to  the  public, 
even  when  denunciations,  avowals,  or  still  more  positive  results, 
exhibit  proofs,  either  to  families,  or  to  the  superior  ecclesiastics, 
whether  regular  or  secular.  For,  on  the  one  hand,  the  honor  of 
the  persons  compromised  and  that  of  their  parents;  and,  on  the 
other,  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  even  an  ill-understood  re- 
serve, which  civil  authority  thinks  proper  to  use  on  these  occa- 
sions, as  well  as  the  impunity  usually  attached  to  so  great  a  crime, 
are  so  many  causes  that  prevent  it  from  coming  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  public,  which,  of  course,  renders  it  still  more  common. 

We  could  cite,  in  support  of  what  has  been  said,  and  in  con- 
firmation of  what  is  to  follow,  facts  which  occurred  in  Paris, 
France.  The  spiritual  direction  practiced  by  the  monks  towards 
the  nuns,  was  a  source  of  scandal  which  was  maintained  and 
fomented  by  dissipation  and  vicious  habits.  We  find,  in  1842,  a 
petition  addressed  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  that  period,  and  signed 
by  the  holy  standard  bearer,  and  other  persons  of  France,  to  the 
number  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-four.  Therein,  they  begged 
that  a  speedy  remedy  might  be  provided  for  the  indecent  con- 
duct of  the  monks  in  the  convents.  Even  this  affair  was  hushed 
up,  in  order  not  to  compromise  the  first  families  of  the  nobility, 
to  which  these  nuns  belonged. 


58  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

This  kind  of  debauchery,  which  had  become  excessive  dur- 
ing previous  years,  was  known  by  means  of  the  inquiries  insti- 
tuted by  the  pubHc,  in  consequence  of  the  denunciation  of  two 
nuns  of  the  convents,  who  entreated  France  to  save  them  from  the 
execrable  principles  professed  by  those  monks,  their  directors. 

Thus  they  learned  that  the  monks  used  to  eat  and  drink  with 
the  nuns  whom  they  preferred,  and  that  they  passed  the  time  with 
them  in  their  private  cells.  The  greater  part  of  the  girls  used  to 
deprive  themselves  of  ail  their  money  and  goods,  and  would 
even  go  without  the  necessaries  of  life  to  enrich  their  lovers.  I 
do  not  state  anything  of  which  I  have  not  proofs.  The  monks 
were  in  the  habit  of  passing  the  night  in  the  dormitory  of  the 
nuns,  and  that  this  custom  had  been  long  observed  by  the  priors 
and  confessors  of  the  nuns. 

The  inquiry  instituted  by  the  people  must  necessarily  have 
made  the  scandal  public,  by  forcing  several  persons  to  reveal  the 
most  infamous  iniquities  authorized  by  the  confessors  and  supe- 
riors of  the  nuns. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  amid  depravity  so  generally  spread 
throughout  that  country,  the  Jesuits  were  not  the  only  monks 
whose  virtue  had  remained  intact,  and  who  had  not  known  how 
to  make  use  of  confession  for  a  vile  purpose.  Accordingly,  an 
ecclesiastic  of  Rome  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  France:  "I  have 
been  told  that  it  had  been  known,  through  private  letters,  that 
the  first  seducer  in  the  convent  of  Saint  Catherine  had  been  a 
Jesuit.  I  know  of  a  monastery  where  a  Jesuit  used  to  practice 
improper  familiarities  with  the  nuns;  he  used  to  say  that  by 
obeying  him  they  did  a  very  virtuous  action,  since  they  showed 
much  repugnance."    It  appears,  moreover,  that  this  was  a  prac- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  59 

tice  to  which  the  monks  had  accustomed  the  nuns;  for  the  Bishop, 
having  presented  himself  before  some  nuns  obstinate  in  vice,  in 
order  to  restore  them  by  gentle  means,  to  sentiments  of  virtue, 
and  having  told  them  that  he  had  brought  them  the  little  Jesus, 
one  of  them  replied  in  the  most  indecent  manner. 

Six  nuns  of  the  convent  of  Saint  Catherine  denounced  the 
infamous  practices  of  which  their  confessors  and  superiors  were 
guilty.  In  this  petition  which  was  presented  to  the  officials  of 
France,  we  find  the  following  facts :  "The  monks  often  come  to 
meet  us  at  the  side  of  the  sacristy,  of  which  they  have  almost  all 
the  keys;  and  there  is  there  an  iron  grating  sufficiently  large, 
where  they  conduct  themselves  in  the  most  shameless  manner." 

*Tf,  besides,  they  find  any  opportunity  of  entering  the  con- 
vent, under  any  kind  of  pretence,  they  come  and  remain  alone 
in  the  chambers  of  such  as  are  devoted  to  them." 

"If  these  monks  and  priests  administer  the  consolations  of 
religion  to  any  dying  person,  they  eat  and  sleep  in  the  convents, 
and  they  dine  with  v^diomsoever  they  please,  even  with  the  vestry- 
nuns.  Not  only  are  the  fathers,  priors,  and  the  present  con- 
fessors, accused  of  this  negligence  and  these  irregularities,  but 
it  is  avowed  that  the  bad  conduct  of  which  the  latter  have  been 
guilty,  had,  for  a  long  time,  become  a  habit  with  all  the  friars 
who  were  successively  destined  to  perform  these  duties." 

The  depravity  of  morals,  and  the  licentiousness  introduced 
into  the  convents,  are  further  established  by  the  letters  which 
the  prioress  of  the  convent  of  Saint  Catherine  wrote  to  the  rector 
of  the  episcopal  seminary  of  a  town  in  France.  "To  answer  the 
questions  you  ask  me  I  should  require  much  time,  and  an  excel- 
lent memory  to  remember  the  many  things  that  have  happened 


60  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.. 

during  the  twenty-five  years  that  I  have  spent  among  monks, 
and  all  those  also  which  I  have  heard  related  about  them.  I  shall 
not  speak  of  friars.  As  to  the  others  whose  conduct  is  blamable, 
there  are  more  than  you  imagine;  among  others  (here  she  names 
nine  of  them).  But  why  name  any  more?  Excepting  three  or 
four  friars  among  so  many  monks,  whether  living  or  dead,  whom 
I  have  known,  there  is  not  one  who  was  not  of  the  same  stamp. 
They  all  profess  the  same  maxims,  and  their  conduct  is  the  same. 
Their  intercourse  with  the  nuns  is  of  the  utmost  familiarity. 
When  the  monks  come  to  visit  a  sick  person,  it  is  their  custom  to 
sup  with  nuns,  to  sing  and  dance,  and  even  get  beastly  intoxicated 
is  no  uncommon  sight.  I  affirm  that  all  priests  and  monks  possess 
the  art  of  corrupting  virtue."  "The  priests  are  the  husbands  of 
the  nuns,  and  the  lay-brother  of  the  lay-sister.  There  is  not  a 
Catholic  bishop  on  earth  who  has  been  a  bishop  twelve  months 
but  what  has  discovered  immorality  in  the  convents  of  his  dio- 
ceses." 

Another  nun  makes  the  following  statement  and  declaration : 
'1  testified  to  the  priest  in  my  confession  the  fear  and  scruples 
which  all  priests  excited  within  me."  He  replied  by  saying: 
"Must  I  tell  you  plainly?  You  are  a  precious  simpleton.  Fol- 
low my  advice.  Only  try,  and  you  will  soon  thank  me  for  my 
lessons;  be  sure  your  scruples  will  cease."  Whenever  this  same 
priest  paid  his  visits  to  the  convent  he  renewed  his  attempts  to 
gain  his  object. 

"When  the  monks  came  among  us  to  assist  the  sick  they 
remained  whole  days  together,  and  entered  alone,  under  any  pre- 
tence, into  the  chambers  of  certain  nuns.  They  came  every  day 
to  the  grate,  and  never  spoke  to  us  but  in  disgusting  language, 
revealing  to  us  the  confessions  they  had  heard,"  etc.,  etc. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  61 

"There  exists  another  cursed  abuse,  which  is,  that  the  nuns 
choose  a  husband  among  the  priests  and  male  attendants  when 
tliey  have  scarcely  made  their  vows," 

What  appears  most  revolting  in  this  affair  of  the  convents, 
is  the  conduct  and  principles  of  two  wicked  nuns,  who,  infected 
with  the  abominable  maxims  of  the  priests,  had  abandoned  them- 
selves more  excessively  than  their  female  companions  to  the  most 
revolting  licentiousness — nay,  to  the  vilest  profanation  of  what 
Catholics  consider  as  most  sacred. 

The  facts  we  relate  are  scandalous,  no  doubt;  but  the  op- 
probrium recoils  upon  those  who  give  occasion  to  such  revela- 
tions by  their  acts,  their  culpable  tolerance,  fatal  institutions, 
and  practices  likely  to  foment  the  passions  and  to  corrupt  inno- 
cence. It  is  by  concealing  iniquities  of  this  kind  from  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  public,  and  by  securing  impunity  for  them,  under 
pretence  of  protecting  religion,  that  they  provoke  instead  of 
checking  them.  The  example  of  chastisement  being  the  most 
powerful  bar  that  can  be  opposed  to  crime,  it  is  allowing  it  to 
have  full  swing  and  not  inflict  punishment  equal  to  the  crime. 

It  is  difficult  to  people  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  spirit 
of  those  corporations,  to  imagine  to  what  an  excess  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  priests  may  be  carried,  or  to  conceive  how  such  irregu- 
larities could  have  existed  so  long.  Even  when  they  were 
brought  to  light  by  a  virtuous  prelate,  the  impudence  of  the 
priests  was  far  from  being  disconcerted.  They  were  seen  to 
brave  the  authority  of  the  bishop  and  that  of  the  public,  to  dis- 
semble their  crimes,  and  persevere  in  their  abominable  practices. 
The  obstinate  resistance  made  by  these  wretched  nuns  to  the  in- 
troduction of  a  more  regular  course  of  life,  was  owing  to  the 


•i>  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 


perfidious  counsels  they  received  from  the  priests,  who  had  ac- 
customed them  to  a  bhnd  confidence  and  a  boundless  submission 
to  their  will. 

"They  used  to  say,"  says  the  Bishop,  "that,  if  they  acted 
otherwise,  they  would  have  incurred  the  excommunication  ful- 
minated by  the  holy  father,  and  several  of  them  were  so  strongly 
possessed  with  this  fear,  that  one  of  them,  being  dangerously  ill, 
never  asked  for  the  sacrament  to  be  administered  to  her," 

We  have  related  many  scandalous  facts  in  the  course  of  this 
work;  others  will  be  found  in  this  book  which  are  not  less  so. 
It  is  painful  to  expose  to  public  view  such  hideous  and  revolting 
descriptions;  but  great  evils  require  strong  remedies,  especially 
at  a  moment  when  an  attempt  is  making  to  cause  institutions  and 
practices  so  pernicious  as  monastic  and  sacerdotal  confession  to 
prevail  in  France.  People  must  at  length  be  made  to  know  the 
consequences  of  such  a  system;  public  opinion  must  be  sufficiently 
struck  with  the  greatness  of  the  evil  to  oppose  a  barrier  to  this 
torrent  which  threatens  to  invade  everything.  We  must  at 
length  warn  the  public  against  this  confusion  of  precepts  and 
pretended  religious  duties,  and  against  institutions  founded  to 
maintain  the  power  of  a  foreign  domination. 

We  have  derived  the  facts  we  are  going  to  quote  from  the 
proccs-verbaux  of  the  Inquisition  of  a  town  in  Italy,  which  were 
carried  off  at  the  time  when  the  French,  being  masters  of  Italy, 
destroyed  that  tribunal.  They  have  been  communicated  to  us 
on  condition  of  mentioning  neither  the  name  of  the  place  nor 
that  of  the  person  from  whom  we  have  received  them.  We  may 
judge  from  these  facts,  which  happened  in  a  small  district,  and 
in  a  rather  short  space  of  time,  what  are  the  immoral  results  of 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  ^ 

confession  throughout  Italy,  and  the  excessive  depravity  of  the 
monks.  For,  save  a  certain  number  of  exceptions,  we  find  among 
the  corporations  of  that  country  the  same  principles  and  the  same 
morals. 

In  every  land  where  abhorrent  Catholicism  exists  the  same 
immoral  stain  is  found  upon  the  garments  of  the  priestcraft.  A 
woman  of  Italy  about  thirty  years  old,  named  Bartolommea,  the 
wife  of  a  man  named  Bronzoni,  declares  that  a  priest  by  the 
name  of  Santomi,  had  a  very  bad  reputation,  and  lived  very  dis- 
orderly with  a  married  woman. 

She  relates,  moreover,  that  this  same  priest,  with  others  of 
his  convent,  habitually  made  use  of  licentious  expressions  to 
women. 

A  nun,  named  Ancilla  Rei,  of  the  order  of  Saint  Francis, 
declared  that  she  had  been  tempted,  at  the  tribunal  of  confession, 
by  the  director  of  her  convent,  named  Fortunato.  He  began 
with  telling  this  nun  that  he  loved  her  tenderly,  and  he  used  to 
call  her  his  little  dove, 

A  nun,  thirty-five  years  of  age,  named  Illuminata  Guidi,  a 
claustral  sister  in  a  convent  of  Saint  Francis,  said  she  had  de- 
nounced a  few  years  before,  to  the  tribunal  a  priest  who  had 
tempted  her  in  the  confessional  for  three  years. 

We  see,  from  the  declarations  made  by  this  girl,  "for  the 
acquittal  of  her  conscience,"  as  she  terms  it,  to  what  a  state  seclu- 
sion and  perpetual  celibacy  will  reduce  certain  girls.  This 
unfortunate  creature  avows  that  the  passion  that  pervaded  her 
was  so  powerful,  that,  from  the  age  of  eighteen  to  twenty-nine, 
she  had  prayed  on  her  knees  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  recommending 
herself  to  the  most  holy  God,  and  saying,  God  save  me,  God  save 


Mf  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

me,  to  obtain  her  intercession  for  a  purpose  which  may  be  under- 
stood without  a  more  particular  allusion  to  it. 

Seeing  that  the  prayers  to  the  Virgin  did  not  succeed,  she 
applied  to  the  devil.  The  devil  barkened  to  her  prayers.  But 
we  will  not  detain  the  reader  by  relating  all  the  things  of  which 
this  unfortunate  girl  accuses  herself  before  the  Inquisition,  and 
w^hich  are  merely  a  mixture  of  the  grossest  superstition  and  blind 
ignorance. 

Margaret  Monti,  twenty-two  years  of  age,  declares  that  the 
priest  Turrini  had  tempted  her  in  the  confessional.  This  priest 
having  been  questioned,  on  the  22d  of  June,  1897,  answered  that 
he  had  been  a  confessor  in  the  convent  of  Saint  Sebastian  for 
three  years,  and  that  he  had  made  overtures  in  the  confessional, 
by  word  and  deed,  to  Sister  Gertrude  Fantini;  that  he  had  often 
kissed  her  through  the  grating  of  the  confessional,  and  that  he 
had  commanded  her  to  commit  shameful  actions.  He  accused 
himself  also  of  having  used  licentious  language  to  a  woman 
named  Molinto  Marmoni,  every  time  she  came  to  confess  to  him, 
which  happened  every  week  or  fortnight;  that  he  solicited  her 
to  love  him  by  calling  her  endearing  names,  and  by  kissing  her 
through  the  grating  of  the  confessional;  and  all  this  took  place 
before,  during,  and  after  confession;  and  finally,  that  he  had 
written  her  an  immoral  letter.  He  had  also  behaved  in  the  same 
way  to  other  women. 

A  maid,  aged  thirty-three,  declares  that  her  confessor, 
Felice,  a  monk,  aged  forty-five,  had  asked  her  several  most  in- 
decent questions.  (Here  follow,  in  the  original,  more  than  twen- 
ty depositions  of  such  a  nature,  that  we  would  not  dare  to  pub- 
lish them  in  any  language.) 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  65 


We  could  go  on  enumerating  facts  until  the  reader  would 
become  gray  from  age,  wherein  the  priestcraft  of  all  nations 
have,  as  a  spider,  woven  their  ungodly  meshes  tightly  round  inno- 
cent virtue,  and  dragged  down  to  a  sorrowful  grave  girls  who 
were  once  the  pet  of  a  loving  father  and  the  worshiped  flower 
of  a  mother's  tenderest  affections.  Lift  the  veil  from  the  con- 
vents of  America  and  the  same  festering  sore  will  be  found  to 
exist  in  this  country  as  elsewhere.  How  long,  oh  Lord,  how  long 
will  intelligent,  liberty-loving  Protestants  tolerate  such  con- 
duct, and  such  wholesale  slaughter  of  virtue? 


13  ,'i<  •f<"i -'?-^-wy?"*^~,. 


Hobson  swimming  from  the  wreck  of  the  Merrimac. 


Chapter  VIII. 

Suffered  for  a  Father's  (Priest's)  Sins. 

FOLLOWERS  OF  CATHOIJCISM,  AS  WELL  AS  OTHERS,  SUFFER 
WHEN   IT   SERVES  CATHOLIC  PURPOSES. 


In  a  short  time  after  the  American  army  had  entered  the 
Isle  of  Cuba,  there  were  scouting  parties  made  up  of  soldiers  sent 
out  through  the  outskirts  of  all  the  cities  of  the  Island  in  order 
to  gather  information  relative  to  the  strength  of  the  Spanish 
forces,  and  all  such  information  had  to  come  through  native 
sources,  consequently  the  priests  of  Cuba  had  been  advised  by 
the  Spanish  officials  to  learn  the  names  of  all  persons  whom 
they  thought  most  likely  would  aid  the  Americans,  and  had  been 
instructed  to  corral  them  in  convents  and  keep  a  strict  watch  over 
them  and  see  that  no  information  was  given  out  that  would  be 
detrimental  to  the  Spanish  cause,  and  by  this  means  the  Ameri- 
cans found  it  very  difficult  to  learn  what  they  desired,  and  not 
being  posted  as  to  the  cause  of  the  lack  of  reliable  information 
were  placed  at  a  great  disadvantage.  Finding  that  such  informa- 
tion as  they  did  come  in  possession  of  was  always  misleading,  the 
American  officers  set  about  to  learn  why  the  Cubans  who  had 
been  so  mistreated  by  the  Spanish  should  endeavor  to  shield 


es  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


their  oppressors,  and  solved  the  problem  by  placing  an  intelligent 
negro  from  the  State  of  Mississippi  as  a  decoy  in  the  parish  of 
Priest  Roboto.  This  negro  was  instructed  to  act  the  part  of  a 
Cuban,  and  appear  a  devout  Catholic,  which  he  did  to  perfection, 
as  he  spoke  the  Spanish  language  fluently,  and  at  once  became  a 
fast  friend  of  Priest  Roboto,  and  learned  that  the  priest  in  order 
to  keep  the  Cubans  under  his  control  would  each  day  entice  a 
native  Cuban  into  his  residence  and  have  the  poor  wretch  killed 
and  pin  an  American  flag  on  his  breast,  and  have  him  hauled 
around  over  the  neighborhood  and  tell  the  natives  that  he  was 
another  poor  Cuban  who  had  been  trying  to  befriend  the  Ameri- 
cans and  was  killed,  simply  because  he  had  some  negro  blood  in 
his  veins.  Spain  tried  in  every  conceivable  manner  to  embitter 
Cubans  against  America  by  telling  them  all  that  no  negro  was 
allowed  any  privileges  by  Americans,  and  then  demonstrated  to 
the  native  Cubans  that  they  could  not  expect  any  consideration 
from  the  Americans,  as  nearly  all  of  their  race  had  more  or  less 
negro  blood  in  them.  It  has  been  a  hard  matter  to  eradicate 
from  the  minds  of  the  Ignorant  Cubans  that  the  Americans  were 
not  the  cause  of  scores  of  their  race  being  killed  simply  because 
there  is  negro  blood  in  their  veins.  Catholicism  does  not  stop 
to  consider  the  results  that  her  actions  will  have  upon  society, 
as  she  does  not  care  just  so  the  aim  of  her  intrigue  is  carried  to 
perfection.  In  every  Instance  where  information  derogatory  to 
Americans  was  scattered  among  the  Cuban  soldiers,  and  it  could 
be  traced  to  the  originator,  it  was  found  that  It  emanated  from 
someone  who  was  connected  with  the  Catholic  Church  and  most 
generally  from  a  priest.  You  can  visit  Cuba  to-day  and  make 
inquiries  of  those  who  have  fought  for  Cuba's  freedom  for  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM,  W 

past  ten  years,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  their  greatest  draw- 
back was  the  ever-deceiving  actions  of  the  followers  of  the  Pope, 
as  the  priestcraft  of  Cuba  would  pretend  to  be  warm  supporters 
of  the  Cuban  cause  in  order  to  learn  their  secrets,  that  they  might 
post  the  Spanish  officials  and  thereby  thwart  every  move  made 
by  the  natives  to  throw  off  their  bondage. 

That  it  may  be  more  thoroughly  demonstrated  to  the  reader 
that  Catholicism  is  an  institution  that  has  been  heartless  through 
all  ages  and  in  all  climes,  we  consider  that  a  statement  from  a  nun 
of  Canada  would  be  appropriate,  as  it  will  clearly  demonstrate  that 
clime  has  nothing  to  do  in  the  procedures  of  Romanism.  The 
confession  of  Maria  Monk  has  in  the  past  caused  thousands  of 
Catholics  to  leave  the  infamous  bondage  of  darkness,  and  we 
believe  that  at  this  time  to  partially  repeat  her  story  would  have 
an  influence  for  good  upon  the  rising  generation  of  young 
Catholics  who  have  already  had  their  faith  shaken  in  the  Church 
of  Rome  since  facts  pertaining  to  Cuba,  Puerto  Rico  and  the 
Philippines  have  been  exposed,  so  we  will  skip  over  the  first  five 
months  of  Maria  Monk's  life  in  the  convent,  and  will  let  her  re- 
peat her  story  in  her  own  language : 

Of  the  Inquisition  born  in  1198  to  kill  out  the  truth,  no  cie- 
tailed  history  is  necessary.  It  is  still  in  existence  wherever  the 
power  of  Rome  can  assert  itself.  It  is  doing  its  work  in  nun- 
neries, monasteries,  churches,  priestly  homes,  and  elsewhere.  In 
a  note  received  I  read  these  words :  "A  beautiful  girl  has  been 
captured  by  a  priest  and  the  lady  superior,  carried  to  the  nunnery; 
and  she  has  just  taken  the  black  veil."  That  fact,  read  in  the 
light  of  the  experiences  of  Maria  Monk,  tells  that  the  priest  has 
another  victim  to  despoil,  or  the  girl  is  to  be  crushed  by  a  power 
she  cannot  resist.    Here  is  a  story  of  what  may  befall  her : 


70  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

*'It  was  about  five  months  after  I  had  taken  the  black  veil," 
said  Maria  Monk,  "when  the  superior  sent  for  me  and  several 
other  nuns  to  come  to  her  room.  The  weather  was  cool;  it  was 
an  October  day.  We  found  the  bishop  and  some  priests  with 
her;  and,  speaking  in  an  unusual  tone  of  fierceness  and  authority, 
she  said :  'Go  to  the  room  for  the  examination  of  conscience,  and 
drag  St.  Frances  upstairs.^  Nothing  more  was  necessary  than 
this  unusual  command,  with  the  tone  and  manner  which  accom- 
panied it,  to  excite  in  me  the  most  gloomy  anticipations.  It  did 
not  strike  me  as  so  strange  that  St.  Frances  should  be  in  the  room 
to  which  the  superior  directed  us.  It  was  an  apartment  to  which 
we  were  often  sent  to  prepare  for  the  communion,  and  to  which 
we  involuntarily  went  whenever  we  felt  the  compunctions  which 
our  ignorance  of  duty  and  the  misinstructions  we  received  in- 
clined us  to  seek  relief  from  self-reproach.  Indeed,  I  had  seen 
her  there  a  little  before.  What  terrified  me  was,  first,  the  supe- 
rior's angry  manner;  second,  the  expression  she  used,  being  a 
French  term,  whose  peculiar  use  I  had  learned  in  the  convent,  and 
whose  meaning  is  rather  softened  when  translated  into  'drag'; 
third,  the  place  to  which  we  were  directed  to  take  the  interesting 
young  nun,  and  the  persons  assembled  there,  as  I  supposed,  to 
condemn  her.  My  fears  were  such  concerning  the  fate  that 
awaited  her,  and  my  horror  at  the  idea  that  she  was  in  some  way 
to  be  sacrificed,  that  I  would  have  given  anything  to  be  allowed 
to  stay  where  I  was.  But  I  feared  the  consequences  of  disobey- 
ing the  superior,  and  proceeded  with  the  rest  towards  the  room 
for  the  examination  of  conscience. 

"The  room  to  which  we  were  to  proceed  from  that  was  in 
the  second  story,  and  the  place  of  many  a  scene  of  a  shameful 


'NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM,  71 

nature.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  say;  that  things  had  occurred 
there  which  made  me  regard  the  place  with  the  greatest  disgust. 

"St.  Frances  had  appeared  melancholy  for  some  time.  I 
well  knew  that  she  had  cause,  for  she  had  been  repeatedly  sub- 
ject to  trials  which  I  need  not  name — our  common  lot. 

"When  we  had  reached  the  room  which  we  had  been  bidden 
to  seek,  I  entered  the  door,  my  companions  standing  behind  me, 
as  the  place  was  so  small  as  hardly  to  hold  five  persons  at  a  time. 
The  young  nun  was  standing  alone,  near  the  middle  of  the  room. 
She  was  probably  about  twenty  years  of  age,  with  light  hair,  blue 
eyes,  and  very  fair  complexion." 

Think  of  it.  She  resembled  in  appearance  one  that  was 
the  light  of  a  boyhood  home  I  well  knew.  She  was  some  one's 
child,  and  by  her  devotion  to  Christ,  resistance  to  crime,  and 
loyalty  to  virtue,  must  have  been  worthy  of  love.  She  had  been 
true  to  the  highest  instincts  of  an  immortal  nature,  and  for  this 
was  to  die. 

The  narrative  proceeds :  "I  spoke  to  her  in  a  compassionate 
voice,  but  at  the  same  time  with  such  a  decided  manner  that  she 
comprehended  my  full  meaning: 

"Several  others  spoke  kindly  to  her,  but  two  addressed  her 
very  harshly.  The  poor  creature  turned  round  with  a  look  of 
meekness,  without  expressing  any  unwillingness  or  fear,  and 
without  even  speaking  a  word,  resigned  herself  to  our  hands. 
The  tears  came  into  my  eyes.  I  had  not  a  moment's  doubt 
that  she  considered  her  fate  as  sealed,  and  was  already  beyond 
the  fear  of  death.  She  was  conducted  or  rather  hurried  to  the 
staircase,  which  was  near  by,  and  then  seized  by  her  limbs  and 
clothes,  and  in  fact  almost  dragged  upstairs,  in  the  sense  the 


General  Garcia,  the  Cuban  Patriot,  who  declared  that  the  Romish  church 
was  the  direct  cause  of  350,000  men,  women  and  children  of  Cuba 
being  sacrificed  that  the  Bishopric  and  Priestcraft  might 
gather  tithes  to  support  Catholic  dignita- 
ries of  Spain. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  73 

superior  had  intended.  I  laid  my  own  hands  upon  her — I  took 
hold  of  her,  too — more  gently  indeed  than  some  of  the  rest; 
yet  I  encouraged  and  assisted  them  in  carrying  her.  I  could  not 
avoid  it.  My  refusal  would  not  have  saved  her,  nor  prevented 
her  being  carried  up;  it  would  only  have  exposed  me  to  some 
severe  punishment,  as  I  believed  some  of  my  companions  would 
have  seized  the  first  opportunity  to  complain  of  me. 

"All  the  way  up  the  staircase,  St.  Frances  spoke  not  a  word, 
nor  made  the  slightest  resistance.  When  we  entered  with  her  the 
room  to  which  she  was  ordered,  my  heart  sank  within  me. 
The  bishop,  the  lady  superior,  and  five  priests  were  assembled  for 
her  trial.  When  we  had  brought  our  prisoner  before  them.  Father 
Richards  began  to  question  her ;  she  made  ready  but  calm  replies. 
I  cannot  pretend  to  give  a  connected  account  of  what  ensued;  my 
feelings  were  wrought  up  to  such  a  pitch  that  I  knew  not  what 
I  did,  or  what  to  do.  I  was  under  a  terrible  apprehension  that  if 
I  betrayed  the  feelings  which  almost  overcame  me  I  should  fall 
under  the  displeasure  of  the  cold-blooded  persecutors  of  my  poor 
innocent  sister;  and  this  fear  on  the  one  hand,  with  the  distress 
I  felt  for  her  on  the  other,  rendered  me  almost  frantic.  As  soon 
as  I  entered  the  room,  I  had  stepped  into  a  corner  on  the  left  of 
the  entrance,  where  I  might  partially  support  myself  by  leaning 
against  the  wall  between  the  door  and  window.  This  support  was 
all  that  prevented  me  from  falling  to  the  floor;  for  the  confusion 
of  my  thoughts  was  so  great  that  only  a  few  of  the  words  I 
heard  spoken  on  either  side  made  any  lasting  impression  upon  me. 
I  felt  as  if  I  was  struck  with  some  insupportable  blow;  and  death 
would  not  have  been  more  frightful  to  me.  I  am  inclined  to  the 
belief  that  Father  Richards  wished  to  shield  the  poor  prisoner 


74  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF^  ROMANISM.. 

from  the  severity  of  her  fate,  by  drawing  from  her  expressions 
that  might  bear  a  favorable  construction.  He  asked  her,  among 
other  things,  if  she  was  not  sorry  for  what  she  had  been  over- 
heard to  say  (for  she  had  been  betrayed  by  one  of  the  nuns),  and 
if  she  would  not  prefer  confinement  in  the  cells  to  the  punishment 
which  was  threatened  her.  But  the  bishop  soon  interrupted  him, 
and  it  was  easy  to  perceive  that  he  considered  her  fate  as  sealed, 
and  was  determined  she  should  not  escape.  In  reply  to  some  of 
the  questions  put  to  her,  she  was  silent;  to  others  I  heard  her  voice 
reply  that  she  did  not  repent  of  words  she  had  uttered,  though 
they  had  been  reported  by  some  of  the  nuns,  who  had  heard  them; 
that  she  still  wished  to  escape  from  the  convent;  and  that  she  had 
firmly  resolved  to  resist  every  attempt  to  compel  her  to  the  com- 
mission of  crimes  she  detested.  She  added  that  she  would  rather 
die  than  cause  the  murder  of  harmless  babes.  'That  is  enough^ 
FINISH  HER !'  said  the  bishop.  Two  nuns  instantly  fell  upon  the 
young  woman,  and  in  obedience  to  instructions  and  directions 
given  by  the  lady  superior,  prepared  to  execute  her  sentence.  She 
still  maintained  all  the  calmness  and  submission  of  a  lamb. 

*'Some  of  those  who  took  part  in  this  transaction,  I  believe 
were  as  unwilling  as  myself;  but  of  others  I  can  safely  say  that 
I  believe  they  delighted  in  it.  Their  conduct  certainly  exhibited 
a  most  bloodthirsty  spirit.  But  above  all  others  present,  and 
above  all  human  fiends  I  ever  saw,  I  think  St.  Hippolyte  was  the 
most  diabolical.  She  engaged  in  the  horrid  task  with  all  alacrity, 
and  assumed  from  choice  the  most  revolting  parts  to  be  per- 
formed. She  seized  a  gag,  forced  it  into  the  mouth  of  the  poor 
nun,  and  when  it  was  fixed  between  her  extended  jaws  so  as  to 
keep  them  open  at  their  greatest  possible  distance,  took  hold  of 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM,  75 

the  straps  fastened  at  each  end  of  the  stick,  crossed  them  behind 
the  helpless  head  of  the  victim,  and  drew  them  tight  through  the 
loop  prepared  as  a  fastening. 

"The  bed  which  had  always  stood  in  one  part  of  the  room 
still  remained  there;  though  the  screen  which  had  usually  been 
placed  before  it,  and  was  made  of  thick  muslin,  with  only  a  crevice 
through  which  a  person  behind  might  look  out,  had  been  folded 
up  on  its  hinges  in  the  form  of  a  W,  and  placed  in  a  corner.  On 
the  bed  the  prisoner  was  laid,  with  her  face  upward,  and  then 
bound  with  cords,  so  that  she  could  not  move.  In  an  instant  an- 
other bed  was  thrown  upon  her;  one  of  the  priests  sprung  like  a 
fury  first  upon  it,  and  stamped  upon  it  with  all  his  force.  He 
was  speedily  followed  by  the  nuns,  until  there  were  as  many  upon 
the  bed  as  could  find  room,  and  all  did  what  they  could,  not  only 
to  smother,  but  to  bruise  her. 

"Some  stood  up  and  jumped  upon  the  poor  girl  with  their 
feet,  some  with  their  knees,  and  others  in  different  ways  seemed 
to  seek  how  they  might  best  beat  the  breath  out  of  her  body  and 
mangle  it,  without  coming  in  direct  contact  with  it,  or  seeing  the 
effects  of  their  violence.  During  this  time,  my  feelings  were  al- 
most too  strong  to  be  endured.  I  felt  stupefied,  and  scarcely  was 
conscious  of  what  I  did,  still  fear  for  myself  remained  in  a  suffi- 
cient degree  to  induce  me  to  some  exertion,  and  I  attempted  to 
talk  to  those  who  stood  next,  partly  that  I  might  have  an  excuse 
for  turning  away  from  the  dreadful  scene. 

"After  the  lapse  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  and  when  it 
was  presumed  that  the  sufferer  had  been  smothered  and  crushed 
to  death,  the  priest  and  the  nuns  ceased  to  trample  upon  her,  and 
stepped  from  the  bed.    All  was  motionless  and  silent  beneath  it. 


76  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  0F_  ROMANISM, 

"They  then  began  to  laugh  at  such  inhuman  thoughts  as 
occurred  to  some  of  them,  rallying  each  other  in  the  most  unfeel- 
ing manner,  and  ridiculing  me  for  the  feelings  which  I  in  vain 
endeavored  to  conceal.  They  alluded  to  the  resignation  of  our 
murdered  companion,  and  one  of  them  tauntingly  said:  ^She 
zvould  have  made  a  good  Catholic  martyr!'  After  spending  some 
moments  in  such  conversation,  one  of  them  asked  if  the  corpse 
should  be  removed.  The  superior  said  it  had  better  remain  a  little 
while.  After  waiting  some  time  longer,  the  feather  bed  was  taken 
off,  the  cords  unloosed,  and  the  body  taken  by  the  nuns  and 
dragged  downstairs.  I  was  informed  that  it  was  taken  into  the 
cellar,  and  thrown  unceremoniously  into  the  hole,  covered  with  a 
great  quantity  of  lime,  and  afterwards  sprinkled  with  a  liquid  of 
the  properties  and  name  of  which  I  am  ignorant." 

What  is  there  in  this  transaction  that  would  prevent  its  repe- 
tition in  every  nunnery  in  the  land?  In  the  terrible  stories  of 
the  Inquisition,  there  is  the  same  horrible  spirit.  Behold  the  help- 
lessness of  the  victim,  the  cruelty  of  her  persecutors,  and  the  bond- 
age of  those  who  assisted  in  doing  the  terrible  deed. 

Beneath  the  Black  Nunnery  was  a  cellar  divided  into  various 
apartments.  In  one  was  the  hole  where  murdered  infants  and 
nuns  were  thrown,  and  covered  with  lime. 

"In  another  was  a  row  of  cells.  The  door  shut  into  a  small 
recess,  and  was  fastened  with  a  stout  iron  bolt  on  the  outside, 
the  end  of  which  was  secured  by  being  let  into  a  hole  in  the  stone- 
work which  formed  the  posts.  The  door,  which  was  of  wood, 
was  sunk  a  few  inches  beyond  the  stone-work,  which  rose  and 
formed  an  arch  overhead.  Above  the  bolt  was  a  small  window 
supplied  with  a  fine  grating  which  swung  open,  a  small  bolt  having 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  77 

IBeen  removed  from  It  on  the  outside.  The  nun,  I  had  observed, 
seemed  to  be  whispering  with  some  person  within  through  the 
httle  window;  but  I  hastened  to  get  my  coal,  and  left  the  cellar, 
presuming  that  was  the  prison.  When  I  visited  the  place  again, 
being  alone,  I  ventured  to  the  spot,  determined  to  learn  the  truth, 
presuming  that  the  imprisoned  nuns  would  answer.  I  spoke  at 
the  window  where  I  had  seen  the  nun  standing,  and  heard  a  voice 
reply  in  a  whisper.  The  aperture  was  so  small,  and  the  place  so 
dark,  that  I  could  see  nobody;  but  I  learned  that  a  poor  wretch 
was  confined  there  a  prisoner.  I  feared  that  I  might  be  discov- 
ered, and  after  a  few  words,  which  I  thought  could  do  no  harm, 
withdrew. 

"My  curiosity  was  now  alive  to  learn  everything  I  could 
about  so  mysterious  a  subject.  I  ascertained  that  they  were  con- 
fined for  refusing  to  obey  the  lady  superior,  bishop,  or  priest. 
They  had  been  confined  there  several  years  without  having  been 
taken  out;  but  their  names,  connections,  offences,  and  everything 
else  relating  to  them,  I  could  never  learn.  Some  conjectured  that 
they  were  heiresses,  whose  property  was  desired  for  the  convent, 
and  who  would  not  consent  to  sign  deeds  of  it.  I  often  spoke 
with  one  of  them  in  passing  near  their  cells,  but  never  ventured  to 
stay  long,  or  press  my  inquiries  very  far.  Besides  I  found  her 
reserved  and  little  disposed  to  converse  freely,  a  thing  I  could  not 
wonder  at,  when  I  considered  her  situation,  and  the  characters 
of  persons  around  her.  She  spoke  like  a  woman  of  feeble  health 
and  of  broken  spirits.  I  occasionally  saw  other  nuns  speaking  to 
them,  particularly  at  meal  times,  when  they  were  regularly  fur- 
nished with  food,  which  was  such  as  we  ourselves  had. 

"Their  cells  were  occasionally  cleaned,  and  then  the  cTOors 


78  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

were  openeH.  I  never  looked  into  them,  but  was  informed  that 
the  ground  was  their  only  floor,  and  straw  their  bed.  I  once  in- 
quired of  one  of  them  whether  they  could  converse  together,  and 
she  replied  that  they  could  through  a  small  opening  between  their 
cells.  They  were  able  to  converse  both  in  French  and  English. 
In  one  of  the  cellars  beneath  one  of  the  Roman  Catholic  churches 
in  Boston  are  cells  in  the  walls.  In  the  cellar  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
church  in  a  small  town  in  Maine,  the  reporter  for  the  gas  company 
stumbled  upon  a  cell  not  wide  enough  for  a  man  to  lie  down  in; 
at  the  top  is  a  bolt  in  which  is  a  ring  that  can  be  opened  and 
placed  upon  the  neck  of  the  victim. 

"I  am  unable  to  say  how  many  nuns  disappeared  when  I 
was  in  the  convent.  There  were  several  who  were  gagged.  Some 
of  the  old  nuns  seemed  to  take  delight  in  oppressing  those  who  fell 
under  their  displeasure.  They  were  ready  to  recommend  resort 
to  compulsory  measures,  and  ever  ready  to  run  for  the  gags.  I 
have  seen  a  half  dozen  lying  gagged  and  bound  at  once. 

'T  have  been  subjected  to  the  same  state  of  involuntary 
silence  more  than  once;  for  sometimes  I  became  excited  to  a  state 
of  desperation  by  the  measures  used  against  me,  and  then  con- 
ducted in  a  manner  not  less  violent  than  some  others.  My  hands 
have  been  tied  behind  me,  and  a  gag  put  into  my  mouth,  some- 
times with  such  force  and  rudeness  as  to  lacerate  my  lips,  and 
cause  the  blood  to  flow  freely.  Treatment  of  this  kind  is  apt  to 
teach  submission,  and  many  times  I  have  acquiesced  under  orders 
received  or  wishes  expressed,  with  a  fear  of  a  recurrence  to  some 
severe  measures."  Are  such  schools  fit  places  for  our  American 
girls  ? 

"One  day  I  liaci  incurred  the  anger  of  the  superior  in  a 


'NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  79 

greater  Hegree  tHan  usual ;  I  was  ordered  to  the  cells.  "A  scene 
of  terrible  violence  commenced.  After  exhausting  my  strength 
by  resisting  as  long  as  I  could  against  several  nuns,  I  had  my 
hands  drawn  behind  my  back,  a  leathern  band  passed  first  round 
my  thumbs,  then  round  my  hands,  and  then  round  my  waist,  and 
fastened.  This  was  drawn  so  tight  that  it  cut  through  the  flesh 
of  my  thumbs,  making  wounds,  the  scars  of  which  never  dis- 
appeared. A  gag  was  forced  into  my  mouth,  after  which  I  was 
taken  by  main  force  and  carried  down  into  the  cellar,  and  brought 
to  a  cell.  The  door  was  opened,  and  I  was  thrown  in  with  vio- 
lence and  left  alone,  the  door  being  immediately  closed  and  bolted 
on  the  outside.  The  bare  ground  was  under  me,  cold  and  hard  as 
if  it  had  been  beaten  down  even.  I  lay  still  in  the  position  in 
which  I  had  fallen,  as  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  me  to  move, 
confined  as  I  was,  and  exhausted  by  my  exertions,  and  the  shock 
of  my  fall,  and  my  wretched  state  of  desperation  and  fear,  disin- 
clined me  from  any  further  attempt.  I  was  in  almost  terrible 
darkness,  there  being  nothing  perceptible  except  a  slight  glimmer 
of  light  which  came  in  through  the  window  far  above  me. 

"How  long  I  remained  in  that  condition  I  can  only  conjec- 
ture. It  seemed  to  me  a  long  time,  and  must  have  been  two  or 
three  hours.  I  did  not  move,  expecting  to  die  there,  and  in  a  state 
of  distress  which  I  cannot  describe  from  the  tight  bandage  about 
my  hands,  and  the  gag  holding  my  jaws  apart  at  their  greatest 
extension.  I  am  confident  that  I  must  have  died  before  morning, 
if,  as  I  then  expected,  I  had  been  left  there  all  night.  By  and  by, 
however,  the  bolt  was  drawn,  the  door  opened,  and  Jane  Ray 
spoke  to  me  in  a  tone  of  kindness.  She  had  taken  an  opportunity 
to  slig  into  the  cellar  unnoticed  on  purpose  to  see  me,    She  un-: 


General  Maceo,  who  was  killed  by  a  treacherous  Spaniard  while  professing 
friendship.    The  friendship  of  Catholicism  is  like  the  kiss  of  Judas. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM..  81 

bound  the  gag,  took  it  out  of  my  mouth,  asked  the  superior  to 
come  to  me,  who  asked  if  I  repented  in  the  sight  of  God  for  what 
I  had  done,  and  if  I  would  ask  the  pardon  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
of  all  the  nuns.  Replying  in  the  affirmative,  I  was  released,  and, 
kneeling  before  all  the  sisters  in  succession,  begged  the  forgiveness 
and  prayers  of  each." 

The  penances  were  in  many  cases  the  personification  of 
cruelty. 

"Kissing  the  floor  is  a  very  common  penance;  kneeling  and 
kissing  the  feet  of  the  other  nuns  is  another,  as  are  kneeling  on 
hard  peas,  and  walking  with  them  in  the  shoes.  We  had  repeat- 
edly to  walk  on  our  knees  through  the  subterranean  passage  lead- 
ing to  the  Congregational  Nunnery,  and  sometimes  to  eat  our 
meals  with  a  rope  around  our  neck.  Sometimes  we  were  fed  only 
with  such  things  as  we  most  disliked.  Garlic  was  given  to  me 
because  I  had  a  strong  antipathy  against  it.  Eels  were  repeatedly 
given  to  some,  because  we  felt  an  unconquerable  repugnance  to 
them  on  account  of  reports  we  had  heard  of  their  feeding  on  the 
dead  carcasses  in  the  River  St.  Lawrence.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  for  us  to  be  required  to  drink  the  water  in  which  the  lady 
superior  had  washed  her  feet.  Sometimes  we  were  required  to 
brand  ourselves  with  a  hot  iron  so  as  to  leave  scars;  at  other 
times,  to  whip  our  naked  flesh  with  several  small  rods  before  a 
private  altar  until  we  drew  blood. 

"One  of  our  penances  was  to  stand  for  a  length  of  time  with 
our  arms  extended,  in  imitation  of  the  Savior  on  the  Cross.  Some- 
times we  were  obliged  to  sleep  on  the  floor  in  the  winter,  with 
nothing  over  us  but  a  single  sheet;  and  sometimes  to  chew  a 
piece  of  window  glass  to  a  fine  powder  in  the  presence  of  the 


^2  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

superior.  We  had  sometimes  to  wear  leathern  behs  stuck  full  of 
sharp  metallic  points  round  our  waists  and  the  upper  part  of  our 
arms,  bound  on  so  tight  that  they  penetrated  the  flesh,  and  drew 
blood.  Some  of  the  penances  were  so  severe  that  they  seemed  too 
much  to  be  endured ;  and,  when  they  were  imposed,  the  nuns  who 
were  to  suffer  them  sometimes  showed  the  most  violent  repug- 
nance. They  would  often  resist,  and  still  oftener  express  their 
opposition  by  exclamations  and  screams. " 

''One  of  the  worst  punishments  which  I  ever  saw  inflicted 
was  that  with  a  cap;  and  yet  some  of  the  old  nuns  were  per- 
mitted to  inflict  it  at  their  pleasure.  I  have  repeatedly  known 
them  to  go  for  a  cap,  when  one  of  our  number  had  transgressed  a 
rule,  sometimes  though  it  were  a  very  unimportant  one.  These 
caps  were  kept  in  a  cupboard  in  the  old  nuns'  rooms,  whence  they 
S^ere  brought  when  wanted. 

"They  were  small,  made  of  a  reddish-looking  leather,  fitted 
closely  to  the  head,  and  fastened  under  the  chin  with  a  kind  of 
buckle.  It  was  the  common  practice  to  tie  the  nun's  hands  behind 
and  gag  her,  before  the  cap  was  put  on,  to  prevent  noise  and  re- 
sistance. I  never  saw  it  worn  by  any  one  for  one  moment  without 
throwing  them  in  severe  sufferings.  If  permitted,  they  would 
scream  in  the  most  shocking  manner,  and  always  writhed  as  much 
as  their  confinement  would  allow.  I  can  speak  from  personal 
knowledge  of  this  punishment,  as  I  had  endured  it  more  than  once, 
and  yet  I  had  no  idea  of  the  cause  of  the  pain.  I  never  examined 
one  of  the  caps,  nor  saw  the  inside,  for  they  are  always  brought 
and  taken  away  quickly ;  but  although  the  first  sensation  was  that 
of  coolness,  it  was  hardly  put  on  my  head  before  a  violent  and  in- 
describable sensation  began,  like  that  of  a  blister,  only  much  more 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  83 

insupportable,  and  this  continued  until  it  was  removed.  It  would 
produce  such  an  acute  pain  as  to  throw  us  into  convulsions,  and  I 
think  no  human  being  could  endure  it  for  an  hour.  After  this 
punishment,  we  felt  its  effects  for  days.  Having  once  known 
what  it  was  by  experience,  I  held  the  cap  in  dread,  and  whenever 
I  was  condemned  to  suffer  the  punishment  again,  felt  ready  to  do 
anything  to  avoid  it.  But  when  tied  and  gagged,  with  the  cap  on 
my  head  again,  I  could  only  sink  upon  the  floor,  and  roll  about  in 
anguish,  until  it  was  taken  off."  -  And  all  this  in  the  name  of 
religion.  Poor,  deluded  creatures !  they  dream  that  this  punish- 
ment is  to  add  to  their  store  of  good  deeds,  and  calculated  to 
shorten  the  duration  of  purgatory. 

It  is  claimed  that  such  punishments  render  them  docile;  they 
fear  to  disobey  the  commands  of  the  priests.  Imagine  a  company 
so  trained,  under  the  lash  of  discipline  that  knows  no  pity,  ex- 
posed to  the  brutal  instincts  of  a  demoralized  priesthood,  who  seek 
to  gratify  their  passions,  and  are  willing  to  leave  their  victims  to 
suffer  any  pain  or  any  shame  that  may  result  therefrom,  and  you 
imagine  a  place  not  far  removed  from  hell.  It  is  not  strange  that 
those  who  have  been  the  inquisitors  want  some  one  near  them  con- 
stantly, and  cannot  bear  to  be  left  in  the  dark.  Think  of  a  nun 
being  gagged,  and  left  to  starve  in  the  cells,  or  having  the  flesh 
burnt  off  her  bones  with  red  hot  irons. 

It  was  once  said,  "Tell  the  truth,  and  shame  the  Devil."  Now 
in  America,  when  one  comes  to  touch  Romanism,  the  motto  has 
been  made  to  read — 

Suppress  the  Truth,  lest  you  shame  tJie  D^evil. 
Many  resemble  the  Chinese  in  one  thing :  they  try^  to  wor- 


84  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

ship  God  so  as  to  keep  the  right  side  of  the  Devil.  They  dare 
not  make  open  war  with  him.  A  leading  evangelist  said,  "It  is 
my  policy  to  preach  so  that  I  may  not  anger  Satan."  No  wonder 
that  additions  brought  into  the  Church  by  such  .leadership  are 
weak  and  puny.  The  times  demand  men  and  women  not  afraid  to 
battle  with  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
to  whom  all  power  is  given  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  To  the  truth, 
then. 

"There  are  three  rooms  in  the  Black  Nunnery  which  I  never 
entered.  I  had  enjoyed  much  liberty,  and  had  seen,  as  I  supposed, 
all  parts  of  the  building,  when  one  day  I  observed  an  old  nun  go 
to  a  corner  of  an  apartment  near  the  northern  end  of  the  western 
wing,  push  the  end  of  her  scissors  into  a  crack  in  the  panelled  wall, 
and  pull  out  a  door.  I  was  much  surprised,  because  I  never  had 
conjectured  that  any  door  was  there,  and  it  appeared,  when  I  after- 
ward examined  the  place,  that  no  indication  of  it  could  be  discov- 
ered on  the  closest  scrutiny.  I  stepped  forward  to  see  what  was 
within,  and  saw  three  rooms  entering  into  each  other;  but  the 
nun  refused  to  admit  me  within  the  door,  which  she  said  led  to 
rooms  kept  as  depositories. 

"She  herself  entered,  and  closed  the  door,  so  that  I  could  not 
satisfy  my  curiosity;  and  no  occasion  presented  itself.  I  always 
had  a  strong  desire  to  know  the  use  of  these  apartments;  for  I 
am  sure  they  must  have  been  designed  for  some  use  of  which  I  was 
intentionally  kept  ignorant,  otherwise  they  would  never  have  re- 
mained unknown  to  me  so  long.  Besides,  the  old  nun  evidently 
had  some  strong  reason  for  denying  me  admission,  though  she 
endeavored  to  quiet  my  curiosity. 

"The  superior,  after  my  admission  into  the  convent,  had 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM.  85 

told  me  that  I  had  access  to  every  room  in  the  building ;  and  I 
had  seen  places  which  bore  witness  to  the  cruelties  and  crimes 
committed  under  her  commands  or  sanction;  but  here  was  a  suc- 
cession of  rooms  which  had  been  concealed  from  view,  and  un- 
known to  all  but  a  few.  I  am  sure  that  any  person  who  might  be 
able  to  examine  the  wall  in  that  place,  would  pronounce  that  secret 
door  a  surprising  piece  of  work.  I  never  saw  anything  of  the  kind 
that  appeared  so  ingenious  and  skillfully  made.  I  told  Jane  Ray 
what  I  had  seen,  and  she  said  at  once,  'We  will  get  in,  and  see 
what  is  there;'  but  I  suppose  she  never  found  an  opportunity.  I 
naturally  felt  a  good  deal  of  curiosity  to  learn  whether  such  scenes 
as  I  had  witnessed  in  the  death  of  St.  Frances  were  common  or 
rare,  and  took  an  opportunity  to  inquire  of  Jane  Ray.  Her  reply 
was,  'Oh,  yes ;  and  there  were  many  murdered,  while  you  were  a 
novice,  whom  you  heard  nothing  about.'  This  was  all  I  ever 
learned  about  the  subject;  but  although  I  was  told  nothing  about 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  killed,  I  supposed  it  to  be  the  same 
which  I  had  seen  practiced,  viz.,  by  smothering. 

"I  went  into  the  superior's  parlor  one  day  for  something,  and 
found  Jane  Ray  there  alone,  looking  into  a  book. 

"Some  time  after  this  occasion,  I  was  sent  into  the  superior's 
room  with  Jane  to  arrange  it,  and  as  the  same  book  was  lying  out 
of  the  case,  she  said,  'Come,  let  us  look  into  it.'  I  immediately 
consented,  when  she  said,  'There,  you  have  looked  into  it,  and  if 
you  tell  of  me,  I  will  of  you.' 

"The  thought  of  being  subjected  to  a  severe  penance,  which 
I  had  reason  to  apprehend,  fluttered  me  very  much,  and  although 
I  tried  to  overcome  my  fears,  I  did  not  succeed  very  well.  I  re- 
flected, however,  that  the  sin  was  already  committed,  and  that  it 


88  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


would  not  be  increased  if  I  examined  the  book.  I,  therefore, 
looked  a  little  at  several  pages,  though  I  still  felt  a  good  deal  of 
agitation.  I  saw  at  once  that  the  volume  was  a  record  of  the  en- 
trance of  nuns  and  novices  into  the  convent,  and  of  the  births  that 
had  taken  place  in  the  convent.  Entries  of  the  last  description 
were  made  in  a  brief  manner  on  the  following  plan.  I  do  not  give 
the  names  or  dates  as  real,  but  only  to  show  the  form  of  entering 
them. 

St.  Mary,  delivered  of  a  son,  March  16,  1834. 
St.  Clarice,  delivered  of  a  daughter,  April  2,  1834. 
St.  Matilda,  delivered  of  a  daughter,  April  30,  1834. 
Etc. 

"No  mention  was  made  in  the  book  of  the  death  of  the  chil- 
dren, though  I  well  knew  not  one  of  them  could  be  living  at  that 
time. 

"Now  I  presume  that  the  period  that  the  book  embraced  was 
about  two  years,  as  several  names  near  the  beginning  I  knew ;  but 
I  can  form  only  a  rough  conjecture  of  the  number  of  infants  born, 
and  murdered,  of  course,  record  of  which  it  contained.  I  suppose 
the  book  contained  at  least  one  hundred  pages,  and  that  one-fourth 
were  written  upon,  and  that  each  page  contained  fifteen  distinct 
records.  Several  pages  were  devoted  to  the  list  of  births.  On 
this  supposition,  there  must  have  been  a  large  number  which  I  can 
easily  believe  to  have  been  born  there  in  the  course  of  two  years." 

Her  situation  was  becoming  alarming  to  herself;  either  she 
must  remain,  and  be  a  party  to  another  murder,  or  flee  to  some 
place  where  she  could  be  delivered  of  a  child,  and  protect  its  life. 
She  resolved  to  fly,  cost  what  it  might.  How  she  managed  to  get 
through  the  secret  passages,  and  find  her  way  to  the  outside  world 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  87 

is  succinctly  told,  but  is  not  important  for  our  purpose.  She 
came  to  New  York,  and  was  introduced  to  the  almshouse,  where, 
she  says,  "I  was  treated  with  kindness  and  care,  and,  as  I  hoped, 
was  entirely  unknown.  But  when  I  had  been  some  time  in  that 
institution,  I  found  that  it  was  reported  that  I  was  a  fugitive  nun ; 
and  not  long  after  an  Irish  woman  employed  in  the  institution 
came  in  and  told  me  that  Mr.  Conroy  was  below,  and  had  sent  to 
see  me.  I  was  informed  that  he  was  a  Roman  priest  who  often 
visited  the  house,  and  he  had  a  particular  wish  to  see  me  at  that 
time,  having  come,  as  I  believe,  expressly  for  that  purpose.  I 
showed^  unwillingness  to  comply  with  such  an  invitation,  and  did 
not  go.  The  woman  told  me  further,  that  he  sent  me  word  that  I 
need  not  think  to  avoid  him,  for  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to 
do  so.  I  might  conceal  myself  as  well  as  I  could,  but  I  should  be 
found  and  taken.  No  matter  where  I  went,  or  what  hiding  place 
I  might  choose,  I  should  be  known,  and  1  had  better  come  at  once. 
He  knew  who  I  was,  and  he  was  authorized  to  take  me  to  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity,  if  I  should  prefer  to  join  them.  He  would  prom- 
ise that  I  might  stay  with  them  if  I  chose,  and  be  permitted  to  re- 
main in  New  York.  He  sent  me  word  further,  that  he  had  re- 
ceived full  power  and  authority  over  me  from  the  superior  of  the 
Hotel  Dieu  Nunnery  of  Montreal,  and  was  able  to  do  all  that  she 
could  do,  as  her  right  to  dispose  of  m^e  at  her  will  had  been 
imparted  to  him  by  a  regular  writing  received  from  Canada.  This 
was  alarming  information  for  me,  in  the  weakness  in  which  I  was 
at  that  time.  The  woman  added  that  the  same  authority  had  been 
given  to  all  the  priests,  so  that,  go  where  I  might,  I  should  meet 
men  informed  about  me  and  my  escape,  and  fully  empowered  to 
seize  me  wherever  they  could,  and  convey  me  back  to  the  convent 


88  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

from  which  I  had  escaped.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  the  offer  to  place  me  among  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  with 
permission  to  stay  in  New  York,  was  mild  and  favorable.  How- 
ever, I  had  resolution  enough  to  refuse  to  see  the  priest  Conroy. 

''Not  long  afterwards  I  was  informed  by  the  same  messenger 
that  the  priest  was  again  in  the  building,  and  repeated  his  request. 
I  desired  one  of  the  gentlemen  connected  with  the  institution 
that  a  stop  might  be  put  to  such  messages,  as  I  wished  to  receive 
no  more  of  them.  A  short  time  after,  however,  the  woman  told 
me  that  Mr.  Conroy  wished  to  inquire  of  me  whether  my  name 
was  not  St.  Eustace  while  a  nun,  and  if  I  had  not  confessed  to 
Priest  Kelly  in  Montreal.  I  answered  that  it  was  all  true,  for  I 
had  confessed  to  him  a  short  time  while  in  the  nunnery.  I  was 
then  told  again  that  the  priest  wanted  to  see  me,  and  I  sent  back 
word  that  I  would  see  him  in  the  presence  of  Chaplain  T.  or  Mr. 
S.,  which,  however,  was  not  agreed  to,  and  I  was  afterward  in- 
formed that  Mr.  Conroy  had  spent  an  hour  in  a  room  and  a  pas- 
sage where  I  had  frequently  been,  but  through  the  mercy  of  God 
I  was  employed  in  another  place  at  that  time,  and  had  no  occasion 
to  go  where  I  should  have  to  meet  him.  I  afterward  repeatedly 
heard  that  Mr.  Conroy  continued  to  visit  the  house,  and  to  ask 
for  me,  but  I  never  saw  him.  I  once  had  determined  to  leave  the 
institution,  and  go  to  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  but  circumstances 
occurred  v/hich  gave  no  time  for  further  reflection,  and  I  was 
saved  from  the  destruction  to  which  I  shoidd  have  been  exposed/* 

After  her  sickness  she  found  it  difficult  to  give  up  her  reli- 
gion. She  says,  "I  was  then  a  Roman  Catholic,  at  least  a  great 
part  of  my  time,  and  my  conduct,  in  a  great  measure,  was  accord- 
ing to  the  faith  and  motives  of  a  Roman  Catholic.    Notwithstand- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  89 

ing  what  I  knew  of  the  conduct  of  so  many  of  the  priests  and 
nuns,  I  thought  that  it  had  no  effect  on  the  sanctity  of  the  Church, 
or  the  authority  or  effects  of  acts  performed  by  the  former  at  the 
mass,  confession,  etc.  I  had  such  a  regard  for  my  vows  as  a  nun, 
that  I  considered  my  hand  as  well  as  my  heart  irrevocably  given  to 
Jesus  Christ,  and  could  never  have  allowed  any  person  to  take  it. 
Indeed,  to  this  day,  I  feel  an  instinctive  aversion  to  offering  my 
hand,  or  taking  the  hand  of  another  person,  even  as  an  expression 
of  friendship.  I  also  thought  that  I  might  soon  return  to  the 
Catholics,  although  fear  and  disgust  held  me  back.  I  had  now 
that  infant  to  think  for,  whose  life  I  had  happily  saved  by  my 
timely  escape  from  the  nunnery;  and  what  its  fate  might  be  if  it 
ever  fell  into  the  power  of  the  priests,  I  could  not  tell.  I  had, 
however,  reason  for  alarm.  Would  a  child  destined  to  destruc- 
tion, like  the  infants  I  had  seen  baptized  and  smothered,  be  allowed 
to  go  through  the  world  unmolested,  a  living  memorial  of  the 
truth  of  crimes  long  practiced  in  security,  because  never  exposed  ? 
What  pledges  could  I  get  to  satisfy  me  that  I,  on  whom  her  de- 
pendence might  be,  would  be  spared  by  those  whom  I  had  reason 
to  think  were  wishing  then  to  sacrifice  me?  How  could  I  trust 
the  helpless  infant  in  hands  which  had  hastened  the  baptism  of 
many  such  in  order  to  hurry  them  to  the  secret  pit  in  the  cellar  ? 
Could  I  suppose  that  Father  Phelan,  priest  of  the  parish  church 
of  Montreal,  would  see  his  own  child  growing  up  in  the  world, 
and  feel  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  having  the  truth  exposed  ?  What 
could  I  expect,  especially  from  him,  but  the  utmost  rancor,  and 
the  most  determined  enmity  against  the  innocent  child,  and  its 
abused  and  defenceless  mother? 

"Yet  my  mind  would  sometimes  still  incline  in  the  opposite 


90  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

direction,  and  indulge  the  thought  that  perhaps  the  only  way  to 
secure  heaven  to  us  both  was  to  throw  ourselves  back  into  the 
hands  of  the  Ghurch,  to  be  treated  as  she  pleased.  When,  there- 
fore, the  fear  of  immediate  death  was  removed,  I  renounced  all 
thoughts  of  communicating  the  substance  of  the  facts  in  this 
volume.  It  happened,  however,  that  my  danger  was  not  passed. 
I  was  soon  seized  with  very  alarming  symptoms,  then  my  desire 
to  disclose  my  story  revived.  I  had  before  had  an  opportunity  to 
speak  with  the  chaplain  in  private,  but  as  it  was  at  a  time  when  I 
supposed  myself  out  of  danger,  I  had  deferred  for  three  days  my 
proposed  communication,  thinking  that  I  might  yet  avoid  it  alto- 
gether. When  my  symptoms,  however,  became  more  alarming,  I 
was  anxious  for  Saturday  to  arrive,  the  day  which  I  had  ap- 
pointed; and  when  I  had  not  the  opportunity  on  that  day  which  I 
desired,  I  thought  it  might  be  too  late.  I  did  not  see  him  till  Mon- 
day, when  my  prospects  of  surviving  were  very  gloomy,  and  I 
then  informed  him  that  I  wished  to  communicate  to  him  a  few 
secrets,  which  were  likely  otherwise  to  die  with  me.  I  then  told 
him  that  while  a  nun  in  the  convent  of  Montreal,  I  had  witnessed 
the  murder  of  a  nun,  called  St.  Frances,  and  of  at  least  one  of  the 
infants  which  I  have  spoken  of  in  this  book.  I  added  some  few 
circumstances,  and  I  believe  disclosed,  in  general  terms,  some  of 
the  other  crimes  I  knew  of  in  that  nunnery. 

"My  anticipations  of  death  proved  to  be  unfounded,  for  my 
health  improved  afterward,  and  had  I  not  made  the  confessions 
on  that  occasion,  it  is  very  possible  that  I  never  might  have  made 
them.  I,  however,  felt  more  willing  to  listen  to  instruction,  and 
experienced  friendly  attentions  from  some  of  the  benevolent  per- 
sons around  me,  who,  taking  an  interest  in  me  on  account  of  my 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  91 

darkened  understanding,  furnished  me  with  the  Bible,  and  were 
ever  ready  to  counsel  me  when  I  desired  it.  I  soon  began  to  be- 
lieve that  God  might  have  intended  that  his  creatures  should  learn 
his  will  by  reading  his  word,  and  taking  upon  them  the  free  exer- 
cise of  their  reason,  and  acting  under  responsibility  to  him. 

"It  is  difficult  for  one  who  has  never  given  way  to  such  argu- 
ments and  influences  as  those  to  which  I  had  been  exposed,  to 
realize  how  hard  it  is  to  think  aright  after  thinking  wrong.  The 
Scriptures  always  affect  me  powerfully  when  I  read  them,  but  I 
feel  that  I  have  just  begun  to  learn  the  great  truths  in  which  I 
ought  to  have  been  early  and  thoroughly  instructed.  I  realize  in 
some  degree  how  it  is  that  the  Scriptures  render  the  people  of  the 
United  States  so  strongly  opposed  to  such  doctrines  as  are  taught 
in  the  Black  and  the  Congregational  Nunneries  of  Montreal.  The 
priests  and  nuns  used  to  often  declare,  that,  of  all  heretics,  the 
children  from  the  United  States  were  the  most  difficult  to  be  con- 
verted, and  it  was  thought  a  great  triumph  when  one  of  them  was 
brought  over  to  the  'true  faith.'  The  first  passage  of  Scripture 
that  made  any  serious  impression  upon  my  mind  was  the  text  on 
which  the  chaplain  preached  on  the  Sabbath  after  my  introduction 
into  the  house :    'Search  the  Scriptures.'  " 

By  obeying  this  divine  command  she  found  Christ  precious 
to  her  soul. 


Chapter  IX. 

The  Ruin  of  Girls. 


Priests  always  try  to  impress  their  members  with  the  idea 
that  they  are  infalhble,  therefore  it  is  impossible  for  a  priest  to 
sin.  They  do  th.is  in  order  that  they  may  accomplish  any  devilish 
deed  they  may  wish  under  the  guise  of  "No  sin,  as  I  am  a  servant 
of  God,  and  can  not  sin."  The  nunnery  located  at  Luzon,  in  the 
Philippine  Islands,  contained  many  girls  of  tender  ages,  and  who, 
of  course,  believed  all  the  priests  told  them. 

"In  this  nunnery  was  a  girl  thirteen  years  of  age,  whom  the 
priest  tried  to  persuade  he  could  not  sin,  because  he  was  a  priest, 
and  that  anything  he  did  to  her  would  sanctify  her.  Doubtful 
how  to  act,  she  related  her  conversation  to  her  mother,  who  ex- 
pressed neither  anger  nor  disapprobation,  but  only  enjoined  it 
upon  her  not  to  speak  of  it,  and  remarked  to  her,  as  priests  were 
not  like  men,  but  holy,  and  sent  to  instrtict  and  save  us,  whatever 
they  did  was  right."  "Other  children  were  treated  in  the  same 
manner.  It  was  not  long  before  I  became  used  to  such  language^ 
and  my  views  of  right  and  wrong  were  shaken  by  it." 


94  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


"A  young  woman  called  La  Belle  Martini  had  been  seen 
going  to  confession  at  the  house  of  a  priest,  who  lived  a  little  out 
of  the  village.  She  was  afterwards  missed,  and  her  body  found 
in  the  river.  A  knife  was  also  found,  covered  with  blood,  bear- 
ing the  priest's  name.  Great  indignation  was  excited  among  the 
people,  and  an  investigation  was  started,  and  up  to  the  present 
time  this  mystery  has  not  been  cleared  up,  but  the  priest,  guilty  or 
not,  was  never  heard  of  again. 

We  extract  from  a  recent  volume  published  on  the  confes- 
sional, through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Phillips,  its  author : 

"Gladly  would  we  turn  away  from  a  task  so  distasteful,  so 
repulsive  to  the  better  instincts  and  nobler  impulses  of  humanity; 
but  to  treat  of  the  fallacies  of  Rome  and  the  abominable  rotten- 
ness of  the  Romish  priesthood  without  giving  a  chapter  upon 
this,  the  most  abhorrent  of  all  its  pagan  doctrines,  would  be  to 
leave  the  subject  untouched,  for  in  the  confession  lies  the  secret 
of  Rome's  success  and  its  power  for  evil.  It  is  of  pagan  origin, 
and  pagan  in  its  results.  The  most  copious  authorities  prove 
that  Roman  Catholicism  has  borrowed  this,  as  well  as  many 
other  things,  from  paganism.  Auricular  confession  was  en- 
joined in  the  Elusinian  Mysteries  by  Zoroaster  in  Persia,  Bud- 
dah  in  India,  and  was  practiced  by  ancient  Babylonians  and 
Egyptians,  the  Mexicans  before  Cortez,  the  Peruvians  before 
Pizarro,  by  the  Japanese,  the  Siamese  and  others.  We  have 
direct  testimony  that  the  priests  of  Bacchus,  who  was  the  god 
of  wine,  listened  to  auricular  confession.  A  distinguished  priest 
once  said:  'Nobody  can  be  surprised  that  the  priests,  the  bish- 
ops, and  the  popes  of  Rome  are  sunk  into  such  a  bottomless 
abyss  of  infamy,  when  we  remember  that  they  are  nothing  else 
than  the  successors  of  the  priests  of  Bacchus  and  Jupiter.'  " 


mNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  »5 

What  is  auricular  confession?  It  is  going  into  a  private 
place  with  a  priest,  where  no  one  else  can  see  or  hear,  and  where 
the  *  "penitent"  must,  under  pain  of  danvnation,  "pour  into  the 
priest's  ear  every  thought,  feeling,  desire,  emotion,  and  act,  but 
must  stand  any  and  all  kinds  of  questions  that  may  be  asked,  no 
matter  how  vile  they  may  be. 

Not  only  do  all  thoughts,  feelings,  emotions,  etc.,  have  to  be 
related  in  all  of  their  details  to  the  priest,  perhaps  a  "bad  priest  in 
mortal  sin,"  but  all  circumstances  leading  to,  and  the  results 
growing  out  of  these  thoughts,  feelings,  etc.,  must  be  given. 

With  the  bare  enumeration  of  our  mortal  sins,  we  should  not 
be  satisfied;  that  enumeration  we  should  accompany  with  the 
relation  of  such  circumstances  as  considerably  aggravate  or  ex- 
tenuate their  malice.  Some  circumstances  are  such,  as  of  them- 
selves to  constitute  mortal  guilt ;  on  no  account  or  occasion  what- 
ever, therefore,  are  such  circumstances  to  be  omitted.  Has  any 
one  imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  fellow  man  ?  He  must 
state  whether  his  victim  was  a  layman  or  an  ecclesiastic.  Has 
he  had  criminal  intercourse  with  any  one  ?  He  must  state  whether 
the  female  was  married  or  unmarried,  a  relative  or  a  person  con- 
secrated to  God  by  vow.  These  are  circumstances  which  alter 
the  species  of  the  sins. 

Concealment  of  any  sin  is  equivalent  to  not  confessing  at  alL 
The  one  confessing  must  be  probed  to  the  very  heart's  core,  as 
you  will  see  by  the  following  paragraph : 

So  important,  as  we  have  already  said,  is  integrity  to  con- 
fession, that  if  the  penitent  wilfully  neglect  to  accuse  himself  of 
some  sins  which  should  be  confessed,  and  suppress  others,  he 
not  only  does  not  obtain  the  pardon  of  his  sins,  but  involves  him- 


06  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

self  in  (ieeper  guilt.  Such  an  enumeration  cannot  be  called  sacra- 
mental confession;  on  the  contrary,  the  penitent  must  repeat  his 
confession,  not  omitting  to  accuse  himself  of  having,  under  the 
semblance  of  confession,  profaned  the  sanctity  of  the  sacrament. 
But  should  the  confession  seem  defective,  either  because  the  re- 
cesses of  his  conscience  with  extraordinary  minuteness,  he  is  not 
bound  to  repeat  his  confession;  it  will  be  sufficient;  when  he 
recollects  the  sins  which  he  has  forgotten,  to  confess  them  to  a 
priest  on  a  future  occasion.  We  are  not,  however,  to  examine 
our  conscience  with  careless  indifference,  or  evince  such  negli- 
gence in  recalling  our  sins  to  our  recollection,  as  if  we  were  un- 
willing to  remember  them;  and  should  this  have  been  the  case, 
the  confession  must  be  reiterated. 

We  now  come  to  the  Canons  and  Decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  very  highest  authority  in  the  Rom- 
ish church,  and  quote  word  for  word  what  this  august  assem- 
blage of  fools  and  knaves  proclaim  in  the  presence  of  his  mighty 
highness.  Pope  Pius  IX.  We  refer  the  reader  to  Canon  VIII. 
Session  XIV.,  page  109: 

If  any  one  saith  that  the  confession  of  all  sins,  such  as  it  Is 
observed  in  the  church,  is  impossible,  and  is  a  human  tradition 
to  be  abolished  by  the  godly ;  or  that  all  and  each  of  the  faithful 
of  Christ,  of  either  sex,  are  not  obliged  thereunto  once  a  year, 
conformably  to  the  constitution  of  the  great  Council  of  Lateran, 
and  that,  for  this  cause,  the  faithful  of  Christ  are  to  be  persuaded 
not  to  confess  during  Lent,  let  him  be  anathema. 

In  some  cases  the  bishop  has  the  right  to  reserve  to  himself 
the  office  of  forgiving  sins..    See  Canon  XL 

If  anyone  sayeth  that  bishops  have  not  the  right  of  reserving 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  97 

cases  to  themselves,  except  as  regards  external  polity,  and  thai 
.  therefore  the  reservation  hinders  not  but  that  a  priest  may  truly 
absolve  from  reserved  cases,  let  him  be  anathema. 

The  Romish  priests  are  especially  anxious  to  hear  the  con- 
fessions of  females,  and  are  very  urgent  in  impressing  the  duty 
upon  them  of  confessing  very  often.  We  simply  state  that  in  the 
Romish  church  the  priests  are  forbidden  to  marry,  and  that  in 
the  confessional  the  utmost  freedom  is  allowed  in  the  questioning 
of  female  penitents.  But  more  of  this  further  on.  We  now  In- 
vite the  reader  to  a  careful  study  of  the  Catechism  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  page  192 : 

Not  only  are  the  faithful  to  be  taught  that  confession  was 
instituted  by  our  Lord,  but  they  are  also  to  be  reminded  that,  by 
.  authority  of  the  church,  have  been  added  certain  rites  and  solemn 
ceremonies,  which,  although  not  essential  to  the  Sacrament,  serve 
to  place  its  dignity  more  fully  before  the  eyes  of  the  penitent,  and 
to  prepare  his  soul,  now  kindled  into  devotion,  the  more  easily  to 
receive  the  grace  of  the  Sacrament.  When,  with  uncovered  head, 
and  bended  knee,  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  earth  and  hands  raised 
in  supplication  to  heaven,  and  with  other  indications  of  Chris- 
tian humility  not  essential  to  tlie  Sacrament,  we  confess  our  sins, 
our  minds  are  thus  deeply  impressed  with  a  clear  conviction  of 
the  heavenly  virtue  of  the  Sacrament,  and  also  of  the  necessity 
of  humbly  imploring  and  earnestly  importuning  the  mercy  of 
God. 

The  age  at  which  all  Catholics  are  bound  to  go  to  confession 
is  fixed  by  the  Council  of  Lateran,  and  is  given  in  the  Cathechism 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  page  193,  and  is  as  follows : 

According  to  the  Canon  of  the  Council  of  Lateran,  which 
begins :  "Omnis  utriusque  sexus,"  no  person  is  bound  by  the  law 

(7) 


9S  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

of  confession  until  he  has  arrived  at  the  use  of  reason,  a  time 
determinable  by  no  fixed  number  of  years.  It  may,  however,  be 
laid  down  as  a  general  principle  that  children  are  bound  to  go  to 
confession  as  soon  as  they  are  able  to  discern  good  from  evil, 
and  are  capable  of  malice ;  for,  when  arrived  at  an  age  to  attend 
to  the  work  of  salvation,  every  one  is  bound  to  have  recourse  to 
the  tribunal  of  penance,  without  which  the  sinner  cannot  hope 
for  salvation.  In  the  same  canon  the  church  has  defined  the 
period  within  which  we  are  bound  to  discharge  the  duty  of  con- 
fession. It  commands  the  faithful  to  confess  their  sins  at  least 
once  a  year.  If,  however,  we  consult  for  our  eternal  interests, 
we  will  certainly  not  neglect  to  have  recourse  to  confession  as 
often,  at  least,  as  we  are  in  danger  of  death,  or  undertake  to  per- 
form any  act  incompatible  with  the  state  of  sin,  such  as  to  admin- 
ister or  receive  the  Sacraments.  The  same  rule  should  be  strictly 
followed  when  we  are  apprehensive  of  forgetting  some  sin,  into 
which  we  may  have  had  the  misfortune  to  fall;  to  confess  our 
sins,  we  must  recollect  them;  and  the  remission  of  them  we  can 
only  obtain  through  the  Sacrament  of  penance,  of  which  confes- 
sion is  a  part. 

Now,  without  further  delay,  we  shall  partially  open  the  door 
and  give  the  reader  a  peep  into  the  confessional.  We  may  do  this 
because  the  Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  page  193,  gives 
us  a  hint  and  we  have  availed  ourselves  of  the  opportunity.  The 
hint  is  as  follows : 

But  as,  in  confession,  many  things  are  to  be  observed,  some 
of  which  are  essential,  some  not  essential  to  the  Sacrament,  the 
faithful  are  to  be  carefully  instructed  on  all  these  matters;  and 
the  pastor  can  have  access  to  works,  from  which  such  instructions 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  .  69 

may  easily  be  drawn.  Amongst  these  matters,  he  will,  on  no 
account,  omit  to  inform  the  faithful  that  to  a  good  confession 
integrity  is  essential.  All  mortal  sins  must  be  revealed  to  the  min- 
ister of  religion:  venal  sins,  which  do  not  separate  us  from  the 
grace  of  God,  and  into  which  we  frequently  fall,  although,  as  the 
experience  of  the  pious  proves,  proper  and  profitable  to  be  con- 
fessed, may  be  omitted  without  sin,  and  expiated  by  a  variety  of 
other  means.  Mortal  sins,  as  we  have  already  said,  although 
buried  in  the  darkest  secrecy,  and  also  sins  of  desire  only,  such 
as  are  forbidden  by  the  ninth  and  tenth  commandments,  are  all 
and  each  of  them  to  be  made  matter  of  confession.  Such  secret 
sins  often  inflict  deeper  wounds  on  the  soul  than  those  which  are 
committed  openly  and  publicly.  It  is,  however,  a  point  of  doc- 
trine defined  by  the  Council  of  Trent;  and  as  the  holy  fathers 
testify,  the  uniform  and  universal  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  church : 
"Without  the  confession  of  his  sin,"  says  St.  Ambrose,  "no  man 
can  be  justified  from  his  sin," 

Yes,  the  priests  have  their  private  book  of  instruction  teUing 
them  how  and  when  to  approach  certain  of  their  penitents,  which 
will  be  clearly  enough  brought  to  light  before  we  are  done,  and, 
before  our  pages  are  closed,  v/e  shall  give  you  the  evidence  upon 
the  question  of  absolute  secrecy  of  the  confessional,  even  at  the 
peril  of  one's  life.  We  are  aware  that  we  must  now  quote  spar- 
ingly, for  the  authors  from  whom  we  shall  quote  are  the  authors 
who  have  been  the  instructors  of  the  priests,  and  who  wrote  their 
secret  books  of  instruction. 

Now,  dear  reader,  remember  that  this  is  Roman  Catholic 
theology  that  we  are  now  going  to  quote — theology  that  your 
own  dear  children  must  learn  some  time  in  life  to  their  sorrow 


100  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

if  you  send  them  to  Romish  schools.  But  hear  the  church  of 
Rome: 

Let  it  be  observed  that  except  in  case  of  danger  of  death,  no 
confessor,  though  he  may  otherwise  have  the  power  of  absolving 
from  reserved  cases,  may  or  can  absolve  his  accomplice  in  any 
external  mortal  sin  against  chastity  committed  by  the  accomplice 
with  the  confessor  himself.  But  this  case  of  an  accomplice  is  not 
placed  amongst  the  reserved  cases,  because  the  bishop  does  not 
reserve  the  absolution  to  himself,  but  any  other  can  absolve  from 
it  except  the  priest  who  is  himself  the  partner  in  the  act. — Den's 
Moral  Theology,  vol.  6,  p.  297. 

On  page  298  Peter  Den,  in  his  instructions  how  to  hear  con- 
fession, places  his  instructions  before  them  in  a  catechetical  way. 
Thus: 

Ques.  Is  a  male  accomplice  in  venereal  sin  comprehended  in 
this  degree? 

Ans.  Yes,  because  the  Pope  extends  it  to  whatsoever  person. 
It  is  not  required  that  the  sin  of  an  accomplice  be  committed  in 
confession  or  by  occasion  of  confession;  for  in  whatsoever  place 
or  time  it  has  been  done,  even  before  he  was  her  confessor,  it 
makes  a  case  of  an  accomplice. 

Lastly,  take  notice  that  since  the  restriction  is  made  to  carnal 
sins,  the  confessor  will  be  able  to  give  valid  absolution  to  his  ac- 
complice in  other  sins,  namely :  in  theft,  in  homicide,  etc. 

Horrible,  indeed,  this  is,  and  many  will  censure  us,  perhaps, 
for  incorporating  such  things  into  these  pages.  But,  dear  reader, 
this  is  the  Roman  Catholic  theology  that  is  taught  and  practiced 
in  your  city,  and  to  the  teachers  of  the  schools  to  which  you  send 
your  own  children.    Better,  a  thousand  times,  blush  for  having 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  101 

given  your  money  and  your  support  to  such  things,  and  to  uphold 
a  system  that  is  as  dark  as  all  the  midnight  hours  from  the  flood 
until  now  if  they  could  be  pressed  into  a  single  hour.  Now,  if 
you  are  too  modest  to  read  a  few  passages  in  the  theology  you  so 
freely  support,  you  had  better  close  the  book  at  once,  for  we  are 
going  to  quote  from  an  eminent  Roman  Catholic  theologian,  P. 
Antoine,  vol.  4,  p.  430.    He  asks  and  answers  as  follows : 

A  confessor  has  seduced  his  penitent  to  the  commission  of 
carnal  sin,  not  in  confession  nor  by  occasion  of  confession,  but 
from  some  other  extraordinary  occasion :  Is  he  to  be  denounced  ? 

Ans.  No.  If  he  had  tampered  with  her  from  his  knowledge 
of  confession,  it  would  have  been  a  different  thing;  because,  for 
instance,  he  knows  that  person,  from  her  confession,  to  be  given 
to  such  carnal  sins. 

For  which  reason,  Steyart  reminds  us  that  a  confessor  can 
ask  a  penitent  who  confesses  that  she  has  sinned  with  a  priest,  or 
has  been  seduced  by  him  to  the  commission  of  carnal  sin,  whether 
that  priest  was  her  confessor,  or  had  seduced  her  in  the  confes- 
sional. 

We  quote  again  from  "Saint"  Peter  Den,  vol.  6,  p.  301 : 

Ques.  Ought  the  denunciation  be  made  when  there  exists  a 
doubt  whether  the  solicitation  to  carnal  sin  was  real  and  suffi- 
cient? 

Ans.  Some  say  no,  but  Cardinal  Cozza,  with  others  whom 
he  cites  (in  doubt  25),  says  yes,  if  the  doubt  be  not  light,  adding 
that  the  examination  of  the  matter  is  to  be  left  to  the  bishop  or 
ordinary. 

Peter  Den,  in  vol.  6,  p.  303,  warns  the  priests  of  the  church 
against  overleaping  the  bounds  of  priestly  propriety,  and  tells  the 


Mrs.  Anne  Gomenli  and  her  two  daughters,  imprisoned 
•for  distributing  Bibles  among  Cubans. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  103 

"holy  fathers"  what  will  be  a  "proximate  occasion  of  sin."    He 
says: 

Speaking  to  a  girl  is  a  proximate  occasion  of  sin  to  him. 
who,  out  of  every  ten  times,  is  want  to  fall  twice  or  thrice  into 
carnal  sin.  Daily  frequenting  a  tavern  or  a  girl  is  considered  a 
proximate  occasion  of  sin  in  respect  of  him  (a  priest)  who,  on 
that  account,  falls  twice  or  thrice  a  month  into  mortal  sin. 

Peter  Den,  p.  i86,  consoles  himself  and  glorifies  the  most 
holy  right  reverend  father  confessors  by  making  this  beautiful 
apology  for  them: 

The  confessor  every  day  occupied  in  the  ministry  of  hearing 
confession  falls  very  seldom  in  comparison  to  the  times  he  does 
not  fall;  therefore,  the  ministry  of  hearing  confession  is  not,  with 
respect  to  him,  a  proximate  occasion  of  sin. 

Very  pious  people,  these,  to  whom  you  entrust  your  daugh- 
ters. One  lady  told  us,  since  we  have  been  in  Springfield,  that 
the  first  impure  thought  she  ever  had  was  while  she  knelt  at 
Father  Walsh's  knee  in  St.  Louis  and  was  questioned  about  things 
of  which  she  had  never  heard  before. 

You  see  we  are  skipping  about  and  only  giving  you  sketches 
here  and  there.  The  reason  is  that  what  we  do  not  give  you  in 
this  book  would  make  the  shades  of  eternal  night  blush  with 
shame. 

But  we  quote  again  from  Den's  Moral  Theology,  vol.  7,  p. 
167: 

Ques.  Are  the  married  to  be  at  any  time  asked  in  confession 
about  denying  the  marriage  duty  ? 

Ans.  Yes,  especially  the  women,  who,  through  ignorance 


104  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM., 

or  modesty,  are  sometimes  silent  on  these  subjects.  But  the  ques- 
tions are  not  to  be  approached  abruptly,  but  cautiously,  etc.     *     * 

Hence,  let  the  wife,  accusing  herself  in  confession,  *  *  * 
etc.  Here  let  the  confessor  (a  celibate  and  perhaps  drunken 
priest)  ask  that  the  married  lest  she  commit  a  detestable  sin,  etc. 
(about  all  of  which  she  must  be  examined).  Lest  the  confessor 
should  become  indolent  and  hesitate  in  tracing  out  the  circum- 
stances of  any  sin,  let  him  have  the  following  versical  in  readi- 
ness :  Who,  which,  where,  with,  why,  how,  when,  etc. 

We  have  cases  on  record  where  an  outraged  husband  has 
assisted  a  "holy  father"  from  his  door  with  his  boot.  Think  of  it, 
oh,  ye  foolish  ones,  a  priest  forbidden  to  marry,  a  man  whose 
word  absolves  your  wife  from  sin,  a  man  who  claims  that  no  act 
of  his  can  be  a  sin;  think  of  it.  He  visits  your  home,  she  visits 
him  in  the  secret  confessional,  where  every  thought,  word,  desire, 
feeling  and  act  of  your  most  secret,  sacred  home  relations  exist, 
and  then,  like  a  serpent  of  the  bottomless  pit,  insinuates  the  poison 
of  death  into  the  nestling  home  over  which  love's  sweet  angel 
alone  should  hover.  Protestants  of  America,  for  God's  sake,  for 
your  homes'  sake,  for  the  sake  of  your  dear,  sweet,  heaven-kissed 
babes,  keep  this  dark-winged  demon  of  death  from  your  doors. 

Again  we  quote  from  Den's  Theology,  vol.  6,  p.  132.  Hear 
his  instructions  to  the  priests;  they  will  startle  you: 

Ques.  Can  a  confessor  absolve  a  young  woman  going  to  be 
married,  whilst  he  knows  solely  from  the  confession  of  her  be- 
trothed husband  that  she  does  not  disclose  in  her  confession  the 
fornication  she  has  been  guilty  of  with  her  betrothed  ? 

Ans.  I  find  various  opinions : 

La  Croix  thinks  that  she  ought  not  to  be  absolveS,  but  that 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  105 

the  confessor  should  dissemble  and  say  miseriatur  tut,  etc.,  so 
that  she  may  not  know  that  absolution  has  been  denied  her. 

Prudent  confessors  are  wont  to  lay  it  down  regularly  to  ask 
from  all  young  women  going  to  be  married  whether  from  the 
occasion  of  their  approaching  marriage  there  occur  to  them  any 
improper  thoughts.  Whether  they  permit  kisses  and  other  greater 
alternate  liberties  because  they  thought  that  greater  freedom 
would  soon  be  allowed  them.  And  since  the  young  woman  is 
more  under  the  influence  of  modesty,  we  are  wont  for  that  reason 
to  hear  the  betrothed  husband's  confession  first,  that  she  may 
afterward  more  confidently  reveal  to  the  confessor  what  she 
knows  to  be  now  known  to  him.  Some  divines  add  that  the  be- 
trothed husband  who  makes  his  confession  first  can  be  induced 
to  tell  her  that  he  has  openly  confessed.  After  the  young  woman's 
confession  that  would  no  longer  be  in  the  confessor's  power. 

We  intended  quoting  in  this  chapter  extracts  from  the  works 
of  St.  Liguori  and  Archbishop  Kenrick,  but  they  must  be  re- 
served for  another  chapter.  But,  husbands,  think  of  it;  mothers 
who  send  your  children  to  Catholic  schools,  think  of  it.  The 
idea  of  you  weeping  over  priest-ridden  Mexico,  and  giving  an 
hour  a  week  and  a  dollar  a  year  to  convert  the  Mexicans  from 
Romanism,  and  then  giving  your  money,  attending  their  fairs 
and  sending  your  children  to  their  schools.  It  is  enough  to 
make  angels  weep  and  to  arouse  the  eternal  God  until  He  would 
"laugh  at  your  calamity."  Do  you  say  it  is  not  so  bad?  We 
quote  from  their  own  books;  we  have  them  with  which  to  estab- 
lish every  word  we  say. 

Young  man,  think  of  it;  your  betrothed,  a  beautiful,  sweet 
girl,  just  blossoming  into  womanhood;  you  love  her;  she  is  your 


106  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 

future  hope,  your  present  joy;  her  voice  is  to  you  as  the  sweet 
music  of  ^olian  strings.  The  sparkle  of  your  eye  tells  well  re- 
membered joy,  while  your  heart  throbs  and  trembles  with  the 
sweet  burden  of  unutterable  affection.  The  lute-like  sweetness 
of  her  voice  is  a  perpetual  melody  in  your  heart,  her  casual  smile 
is  sweeter  to  you  than  Aurora's  kiss.  Can  you  see  her  enter  the 
den  of  the  deceiver  whose  business  it  is  to  ply  her  modest  ears 
with  questions  only  fit  for  the  dark  orgies  of  the  abode  of  the 
damned,  where  reeking  Bacchanalians  hold  their  midnight  revels 
in  their  awful  dance  of  death. 

May  God  awake  the  people  until  they  can  see  the  need  of 
putting  on  the  whole  armor  of  God  and  standing  like  men  for 
Gci  and  home  and  native  land. 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  tried  to  give  at  least  a  hint, 
and  a  very  feeble  hint  at  that,  of  what  the  Roman  Catholic 
confessional  box  means.  It  is  a  place  where  demons  dance  their 
dance  of  death  to  the  sad  wail  of  dying  virtue.  But  we  must  stop 
here.  When  we  think  of  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  pure, 
sweet,  modest  girls  that  have  been  lured  into  the  convent,  first, 
then  by  "devils  as  angels  of  light"  into  the  confessional  box,  our 
brain  is  on  fire  and  our  heart  almost  bursts  with  grief. 

But  we  must  get  to  our  subject.  The  confessional  box  is  a 
place  into  which,  if  a  young  girl  goes,  every  thought,  feeling, 
desire,  impulse  and  even  dream  must  be  related  in  full  to  a  young 
or  old  bachelor  priest,  as  the  case  may  be,  together  with  all  cir- 
cumstances leading  to  and  growing  out  of  these  things.  Not 
only  this;  he,  the  priest,  sits  as  judge  and  physician  of  her  soul. 
He  represents  God  in  the  confessional,  notwithstanding  he  may 
he,  and  often  is,  the  most  consummate  scoundrel.    He  probes  her 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  107 

with  questions  such  as  her  mother  would  not  think  of  speaking 
to  her  about,  and  to  shield  himself  and  her,  the  penalty  of  reveal- 
ing anything  said  or  done  in  the  confessional  is  death. 

But  we  proceed.  And  let  us  say,  dear  reader,  that  if  a  false 
modesty  causes  you  to  turn  up  your  nose  and  curl  your  lip  and 
cast  this  volume  disdainfully  away,  that  a  true,  virtuous,  noble, 
manly  or  womanly  modesty  ought  to  cause  you  to  turn  away 
from  the  support  of  the  very  thing  about  which  you  consider  it 
immodest  to  read. 

We  shall  quote  nothing  but  standard  Roman  Catholic  the- 
ology, the  theology  that  you  support  and  encourage  when  you 
attend  a  Catholic  fair,  or  in  any  way  support  the  Catholic  church; 
the  theology  that  will  have  to  do  with  the  life  and  character  of 
the  child  you  send  to  Romish  schools;  the  theology  from  which 
you  pray  God  to  deliver  Mexico,  and  for  which  you  contribute 
many  sighs  and  tears  and  fifteen  or  twenty  cents  a  year,  but  the 
theology  you  contribute  time,  money  and  children  to  support  at 
home.  We  give  you  a  few  quotations  from  the  Council  of  Trent, 
Archbishop  Kenrick,  Alphonsus  Liguori,  Peter  Den,  etc.,  all  of 
whom  are  standard  authorities  in  the  church  of  Rome. 

We  quote  again  from  the  Maynooth  class  book  tract  on 
matrimony,  p.  482.  (By  the  way,  Maynooth  college  is  the  college 
in  which  Irish  priests  receive  their  instructions  for  the  ofifice  of 
the  priesthood. )    Husbands  read : 

I  have  said,  in  the  second  place,  that  they  (husbands  and 
wives)  are  bound  under  mortal  sin, because  it  is  a  weighty  affair 
within  itself,  since  it  is  the  active  cause  of  quarrels,  hates,  dis- 
sensions, and  since  the  party  defrauded  of  duty  is  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  incontinence,  which  is  a  deadly  sin :  Hence,  the  parish 


108  NINETEENTH  CEI^TURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


priest,  either  himself  personally  or  in  the  tribunal  of  penance,  the 
confessional,  ought  to  inform  married  persons,  and  particularly 
MARRIED  woMEN^  of  what  they  should  observe  in  respect  to  this 
matter.  But  since  women,  through  modesty  or  ignorance,  not 
unfrequently  conceal  sins  of  this  sort  in  sacramental  confession, 
it  is  expedient  to  interrogate  them  regarding  those  sins,  but  cau- 
tiously, prudently,  not  abruptly;  for  instance,  it  may  be  asked 
whether  there  have  been  any  dissensions  between  her  and  her  hus- 
band; what  was  the  cause — whether  she  has  on  that  account  de- 
nied to  her  husband  what  is  due  to  him  by  the  laws  of  marriage. 

Outraged  virtue  shrieks  its  agonies  as  it  beats  its  bruised  and 
baffled  wings  in  helpless  effort  against  the  iron-barred  cage  of  su- 
perstitious dread  of  priestly  power.  Whenever  she  enters  the 
confessional  box,  she  is  then  in  the  hands  of  a  merciless  priest, 
bound  by  a  merciless  system  that  has  no  parallel  in  the  mythologic 
tales  of  any  idolatrous  age  of  which  record  has  been  made. 

We  quote  again  from  Den's  Moral  Theology,  vol.  7,  p.  172. 
This  is  advice  to  young  priests  preparing  for  the  office  of  the 
priesthood : 

Here  let  the  confessor  take  note  that  the  married  (women), 
lest  their  children  multiply  too  fast,  sometimes  commit  a  sin, 
about  which  they  are  to  be  examined. 

But  we  leave  this  leading  authority  on  moral  theology  in  the 
Romish  church  and  give  a  few  quotations  from  St.  Alphonsus 
Liguori.  We  have  carefully  examined  the  moral  theology  of 
Archbishop  Kenrick  and  are  bound  to  confess  that  there  is  not 
a  sentence  in  it  that  we  are  willing  to  put  into  the  pages  of  this 
book.     But  hear  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori : 

Integrity  in  confession  is  twofold,  namely,  material  and 


NIMETEBNTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMAHtSM.  109 

formal.  The  material  consists  in  confessing  all  the  mortal  sins 
that  have  not  yet  been  confessed  and  which  are  remembered  after 
a  thorough  examination  of  the  most  secret  places  and  recesses  of 
the  conscience,  as  well  as  the  number  of  sins  and  the  circumstance 
which  change  their  entity  or  being. 

Formal  integrity  consists  in  this :  That  the  penitent  confess 
all  the  mortal  sins  he  can  remember  just  now,  which  he  is  obliged 
to  do,  considering  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is  now,  and 
when  the  obstacle  be  removed,  going  back  to  confession,  the  peni- 
tent will  see  that  his  confession  be  made  materially  whole  and 
entire.    Tome  VI.,  565,  479,  485,  488. 

The  penitent  whom  the  confessor  detects  not  confessing  all 
his  sins  must  examine  him,  or  otherwise  he  could  not  render 
judgment  nor  apply  the  proper  remedy  to  the  penitent. 

If  the  confessor  find  out  that  the  rude  or  ignorant  (who  is 
not  among  Romanists)  did  not  examine  his  conscience  properly 
he  must  not  send  them  back  that  they  might  examine  themselves 
better,  but  generally  he  is  obliged  to  examine  them  himself. 

That  the  confessor  may  perform  his  duty  as  judge,  doctor 
and  physician  when  he  prudently  doubts  of  the  integrity  of  his 
penitent's  confession,  he  is  obliged  to  question  him  on  those  things 
that  pertain  to  integrity,  also  on  others  which  he"  is  in  need  to 
know  in  confession. 

It  is  better  to  examine  each  act  of  the  penitent  in  particular 
than  to  wait  till  he  has  finished  his  confession. 

1397.  Q.  If  the  confessor  fear  that  young  girls  or  boys 
will  not  accuse  sins  committed  against  the  sixth  (?)  command- 
ment, what  interrogations  must  be  put  to  those  youngsters  ? 

A.    The  confessor  may  say :  "Have  you  heard  bad  convcr- 


110  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


sations  ?  Have  you  had  any  bad  thoughts  ?  Have  you  been  guilty 
of  wanton  jests  ?"  If  they  deny,  the  confessor  could  use  a  sugges- 
tive interrogation,  saying,  for  instance:  "And  now,  tell  me  how 
many  times  you  did  these  things?"  If  they  affirm  that  they  did 
so,  then  the  confessor  could  say,  for  instance:  "Explain  what 
these  indecent  things  and  jests  you  did  were.  Did  you  do  them 
secretly?  Would  you  have  done  them  if  your  mother  had  been 
present?" 

OF  THE  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

Jointly  there  are  seven  circumstances  expressed  as  in  the 
following  verse : 

Who,  which,  where,  with  what  means,  why,  how,  when. 

Who — denotes  the  quality  or  condition  of  the  person ;  for  in- 
stance, in  fornication,  was  the  person  free,  married  or  tied  to  a 
vow  of  chastity  ?  etc.  Which — points  out  to  the  quality  and  ex- 
tent of  the  object,  viz. :  In  a  robbery,  was  the  stolen  goods  sacred 
or  non-sacred,  of  a  great  or  small  value,  etc.  Where — implies 
the  place  where  sin  has  been  committed,  i.  e.,  in  murder,  was  it 
perpetrated  in  a  sacred  place  or  ordinary  locality.  With  what 
MEANS — denotes  the  manner  and  instruments  used  in  the  opera- 
tion of  a  sin,  viz. :  Was  the  help  of  the  devil  used  to  damage  a 
neighbor?  Why — denotes  the  outward  aim  or  end  of  the  agent, 
viz. :  Did  he  kill  another  with  the  idea  of  robbing  him  ?  How — . 
implies  the  accidental  mode  of  action,  viz. :  Did  the  agent  act  with 
a  perfect  or  imperfect  consent,  was  he  in  good  or  bad  faith  or 
knowledge  of  his  action,  did  he  act  through  malice  or  from  weak- 
ness of  mind  ?  When — denotes  the  quality  and  the  length  of  time 
in  the  action,  viz. :  Did  he  sin  on  a  festival  day,  was  the  time  spent 
in  the  action  long  or  short  ? 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  Ill 

If  the  confessor  perceive  that  he  made  mistakes  in  hearing 
confession,  he  must  correct  them  and  keep  the  sacramental  seal  or 
secret. 

But  LIguorl,  like  all  Romish  priests,  has  his  favorite  theme. 
And  now,  dear  reader,  while  you  peruse  the  language  of  this 
"holy  saint"  to  whom  all  Catholics  offer  prayer,  we  beg  you  to 
consider,  and  see  If  you  can,  consistently,  with  your  profession  of 
faith  In  Christ,  support  an  Institution  so  foreign  to  the  religion 
you  profess.    Liguorl  says :  ' 

1376.  O.  Must  the  confessor  be  denounced  who  plans  with 
a  woman,  that  to  deceive  her  servants  better,  she  would  feign 
sickness  when  he  comes  to  her  home  in  order  to  act  criminally 
with  her? 

A.  No.  The  reason  is,  that  it  is  not  evident  that  the  priest 
solicited  In  confession,  but  only  that  the  crime  v/as  accomplished 
under  the  pretext  of  a  confession  not  Intended  for  soHcitation,  but 
only  to  deceive  the  servants  better.  And  much  less  ought  this 
confessor  be  denounced  if  the  woman,  without  any  pre-arrange- 
ment,  entice  him,  solicits  and  gets  him  to  operate  on  her  carnally ; 
because,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  Pope's  bull,  the  confessor  is 
to  be  denounced  only  when  he  solicits  himself  under  the  pretext 
of  confession,  and  In  this  case  it  is  not  he,  but  she  who  solicits 
under  the  pretext  of  confession.  VI.,  679. 

1370.  Q.  Must  the  penitent  be  denounced  who  solicits  in 
confession  ? 

A.  No.  The  reason  is  that  those  penal  laws  are  not  made 
for  the  penitent,  and,  therefore,  could  not  be  stretched  from  one 
case  to  another. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  113 


1375.'     CASES  WITH  PARTICULARS. 

Theologians  think  that  the  confessor  ought  to  be  reported 
to  the  bishop  when.  10.  He  says  to  his  penitent :  "I  would  marry 
you  if  I  were  free,"  for  such  words  are  very  incentive  to  carnality. 
ro.  If  he  says  to  a  woman :  ''Remember  me,  for  I  love  you  dear- 
ly," provided  it  is  proved  by  circumstances  that  his  intention  is 
carnal.  30.  If  he  says  :  "Expect  me  to-day  at  your  house,  because 
I  wish  to  speak  to  you,"  and  when  in  the  house  his  conversation  is 
on  dishonest  topics,  because  this  solicitation  in  the  house  is  re- 
puted to  be  morally  one  with  that  begun  in  the  confessional.  40. 
If  he  says :  "The  confession  of  your  sins  has  caused  me  to  resort 
to  pollution,  although  it  was  against  my  will;"  how  much  truer 
to  say :  "Through  my  own  fault."  50.  If  he  says  to  a  woman  who 
asks  him  to  hear  her  confession :  "I  will  not  hear  your  confession, 
for  I  am  afraid  something  might  happen  to  me,  for  I  am  capti- 
vated by  your  love."  70.  If  he  says  to  the  penitent :  "How  much 
do  you  love  me,"  or,  "I'd  like  to  sit  by  you  all  the  time;  I  have 
had  a  bad  dream  about  you." 

But  Liguori,  even,  after  the  above,  has  given  only  the  merest 
hint  of  what  he  has  in  contemplation  for  his  students,  and  in  an 
hour  of  shame  and  disgust  this  "holy  father"  breaks  forth  in  the 
following  language,  which  in  itself  is  enough  to  give  the  reader 
an  insight  into  the  confessional  box : 

With  reluctance  we  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  this 
matter  (adultery,  fornication),  the  very  name  of  which  pollutes 
the  minds  of  men.  O,  that  I  could  explain  myself  more  briefly  or 
covertly!  However,  I  beg  from  the  students  who  prepare  them- 
selves for  the  obligation  of  hearing  confessions  not  to  read  this 
treatise  on  the  "sixth  (?),  seventh  precept,"  and  the  other  on 

(8) 


114  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

the  "Conjugal  Debt,"  except  on  the  eve  of  hearing  those  confes- 
sions, and  then  let  them  read  with  this  only  purpose,  abstaining 
from  all  curiosity  about  this  filthy  matter. 

Oh!  what  misery  it  is  to  observe  so  many  confessors  who 
spend  a  large  portion  of  the  day  in  hearing  the  confessions  of 
certain  religious  women,  who  are  commonly  called  Bizocas,  ^nd 
refuse  to  hear  men,  saying:  "I  have  something  else  to  do;  go  to 
others,"  so  that  these  men,  not  able  to  find  one  to  whom  they  could 
confess,  live  so  many  years  without  sacraments  and  without  God. 

It  is  with  difficulty  that  we  refrain  from  giving  another  chap-" 
ter  on  the  Roman  Catholic  confessional  box,  but  begging  the 
reader's  pardon  for  the  long  quotations  that  we  have  made  from 
Peter  Den,  Archbishop  Kenrick,  Alphonsus  Liguori  and  others, 
we  close  this  part  of  the  subject  of  confession  with  the  following 
on  the  seal  of  sacramental  confession. 

What  we  have  given  in  the  preceding  chapters  on  Roman 
Catholic  auricular  confession  is  but  a  "drop  in  the  bucket"  in  com- 
parison to  the  great  inexhaustible  cesspool  of  filth  and  moral  rot- 
tenness -that  is  before  us  in  the  theological  works  of  those  from 
whom  we  have  quoted. 

The  Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  page  198,  in  speak- 
ing of  those  whose  modesty  keeps  them  from  going  to  confession 
often,  says :  "Still  more  pernicious  is  the  conduct  of  those  who, 
yielding  to  a  foolish  bashfulness,  cannot  induce  themselves  to  con- 
fess their  sins."  On  page  199  we  have  this  language:  "But  it 
sometimes  happens  that  females  who  may  have  forgotten  some 
sin  in  confession,  cannot  bring  themselves  to  return  to  the  con- 
fessor." We  do  not  wonder  at  this.  The  power  of  the  priest  is 
absolute,  and  the  husband,  even,  has  not  so  complete  an  access 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  115 

to  the  inner  heart  life  of  his  wife  as  the  priest  has  in  the  confes- 
sional box. 

The  sacramental  seal  is  death,  so  the  confessional  box  tells 
no  tales,  but  we  have,  by  waiting  and  working,  been  rewarded 
with  a  look  inside  the  awful  den  through  the  standard  works  of 
the  Romish  church  and  the  confession  of  those  who  have  escaped 
from  its  thraldom.    But  again  we  let  Rome  speak : 

But  as  all  are  anxious  that  their  sins  should  be  buried  in 
eternal  secrecy,  the  faithful  are  to  be  admonished  that  there  is  no 
reason  whatever  to  apprehend  that  what  is  made  known  in  con- 
fession will  ever  be  revealed  by  any  priest,  or  that  by  it  the  peni- 
tent can,  at  any  time,  be  brought  into  danger  or  difficulty  of  any 
sort.  All  laws,  human  and  divine,  guard  the  inviolability  of  the 
seal  of  confession,  and  against  its  sacrilegious  infraction  the 
church  denounces  her  heaviest  chastisements.  "Let  the  priest," 
says  the  great  Council  of  Lateran,  "take  especial  care,  neither  by 
word  nor  sign,  nor  by  any  other  means,  whatever,  to  betray,  in 
the  least  degree,  the  sacred  trust  confided  to  him  by  the  sinner." 

Certainly  there  is  but  little  danger  of  the  sins  confessed  to 
the  priest  ever  being  revealed,  and  especially  so  if  the  priest  be- 
comes a  party  to  a  sin  against  chastity.  But  we  give  you  Rome's 
own  words  again,  first  quoting  from  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori.  Of 
the  sacramental  seal  he  says : 

The  seal  of  confession  consists  in  concealing,  even  before 
the  penitent  himself,  all  things  revealed  in  a  cbnfession  made  with 
the  purpose  to  receive  absolution.  VL,  634. 

1433.  There  exists  a  most  strict  obligation  of  keeping  the 
secrets  of  confession,  which  obligation  is  derived  from  the  natural 
law,  that  of  God  and  of  the  church.     . 


116  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

The  obligation  of  keeping  the  seal  of  confession  intact  is  in 
force :  lo.  All  the  time,  even  after  the  death  of  the  penitent.  20. 
In  all  cases.    VI.,  634-56. 

The  violation  of  the  sacramental  secret  is  of  no  light  im- 
portance.   VI.,  635. 

113.  The  confessor  can  truly  say,  even  under  an  oath,  that 
he  knows  nothing  of  the  sins  he  heard  before. 

1438.  The  obligation  of  keeping  the  seal  intact  comprises 
all  who  in  various  ways,  either  lawfully  or  unlawfully,  immedi- 
ately or  mediately,  have  come  to  know  the  things  said  in  confes- 
sion, which  are  the  object  of  the  seal.    VI.,  648. 

1444.  All  the  sins  of  the  penitent,  even  the  venial,  no  mat- 
ter how  small  they  may  be,  that  were  accused  with  the  desire  of 
getting  absolution  from  the  object  of  the  seal.    VI.,  640. 

Everything  that  was  revealed  in  confession  and  whose  be- 
trayal would  bring  discredit  on  the  sacrament  or  a  damage  on  the 
penitent  is  also  considered  as  the  object  of  the  seal.    VI.,  634. 

The  penitent  is  bound  by  nature  to  keep  secret  all  things 
said  to  him  by  the  confessor  if  their  exposure  would  bring  dam- 
age to  the  confessor  or  injury  and  contempt  on  the  sacrament. 
VI.,  657. 

Here  you  see  that  Saint  Liguori  says,  1434 :  "The  confessor 
can  truly  say,  even  under  oath,  that  he  knows  nothing  of  the 
sins  he  heard  before."  You  will  see  by  the  following  from  Peter 
Den  that  the  same  doctrine  is  taught  and  fully  explained.  The 
extract  is  from  Den's  Moral  Theology,  vol.  6,  p.  227 : 

What  is  the  seal  of  sacramental  confession  ? 

Ans.  It  is  the  obligation  or  duty  of  concealing  those  things 
which  are  learned  from  sacramental  confession. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  117 

Can  a  case  be  given  in  which  it  is  lawful  to  break  the  sacra- 
mental seal  ? 

A.  It  cannot;  although  the  life  or  safety  of  a  man  de- 
pended thereon,  or  even  the  destruction  of  the  commonwealth,  nor 
can  the  Supreme  Pontiff  give  dispensation  in  this;  so  that  on  that 
account,  this  secret  of  the  seal  is  more  binding  than  the  obliga- 
tion of  an  oath,  a  vow,  a  natural  secret,  etc.,  and  that  by  the  posi- 
tive will  of  God. 

.What  answer,  then,  ought  a  confessor  to  give  when  ques- 
tioned concerning  a  truth  which  he  knows  from  sacramental  con- 
fession only  ? 

A.     He  ought  to  answer  that  he  does  not  know  it, 

AND  IF  IT  BE  NECESSARY^  TO  CONFIRM  THE  SAME  WITH  AN  OATH. 

Obj.  It  is  in  no  case  lawful  to  tell  a  lie,  but  that  confessor 
would  be  guilty  of  a  lie,  because  he  knows  the  truth,  therefore,  etc. 

A.  I  deny  the  minor;  because  such  a  confessor  is  ques- 
tioned as  a  man  and  answers  as  a  man ;  but  now  he  does  not  know 
that  truth  as  a  man,  though  he  knows  it  as  God,  says  St.  Thomas 
(q.  IL,  art.  1,3),  and  that  is  the  free  and  natural  meaning  of  the 
answer,  for  when  he  is  asked,  or  when  he  answers  outside  con- 
fession, he  is  considered  as  a  man. 

What  if  a  confessor  were  directly  asked  whether  he  knows 
it  through  sacramental  confession  ? 

A.  In  this  case  he  ought  to  give  no  answer  (so  Steyart  and 
Sylvius),  but  reject  the  question  as  impious;  or  he  could  even  say 
absolutely,  not  relatively  to  the  question,  I  know  nothing,  because 
the  word  "I"  restricts  to  his  human  knowledge. 

You  speak  of  Roman  Catholicism  as  a  branch  of  the  church 
of  Christ,  you  support  it  with  your  money,  your  votes,  and  send 


118  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM. 

your  children  to  be  educated  (?)  by  and  under  the  instructions  of 
Romish  priests  who  may,  and  must,  take  a  solemn  oath  to  a 
known  falsehood  rather  than  reveal  anything  that  would  thwart 
their  evil  designs. 

From  whence  such  inconsistency?  What  hath  bewitched  the 
people  ?  A  few  dollars  in  trade,  or  a  few  votes  has  caused  the  peo- 
ple, professing  Christian  people,  to  "sell  their  birthright  for  a 
mess  of  pottage,"  to  betray  their  country,  render  of  no  effect  their 
religion  and  have  their  families  outraged.  Thou,  God  of  the 
nations,  that  caused  the  blood  of  Abel  to  cry  from  the  ground, 
let  the  blood  of  fifty  million  martyrs  send  back,  in  pathos  deep 
and  awful  as  the  agonizing  groans  of  Gethsemane,  a  warning  to 
this  nation. 

MORAL   CHARACTER   OF  THE  ROMISH    PRIESTS. 

It  is  far  from  our  design  to  cast  a  reflection  upon  the  charac- 
ter of  any  true  man,  however  much  we  may  differ  with  him  on 
questions  of  faith  or  morals,  for  we  respect  the  man  who  is  honest 
in  his  convictions  and  true  to  what  he  sincerely  believes  to  be 
right.  But  when  we  begin  to  investigate  the  character  of  the 
Romish  priesthood,  we  must  confess  our  inability  to  see  either 
honor  or  honesty  of  purpose  in  their  profession  and  life. 

If  history  is  true,  we  are  forced  to  believe  that  while  profess- 
ing infallibility,  the  Popes  of  Rome  were  the  most  corrupt  class 
of  men  that  ever  disgraced  the  earth.  We  have  only  space  in  this 
chapter  to  give  a  sample  or  two  of  the  life  and  character  of  the 
Romish  Pontiffs. 

Pope  John  XXIII.  is  a  good  sample  Pope,  one  of  the  mfalli- 
ble  and  ''holy  Vicars  of  Christ."    The  Council  of  Constantine 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  119 

says  of  him  many  hard  things.  The  second  synod  of  this  council, 
in  its  twelfth  session,  convicted  "his  august  holiness"  of  seisms, 
heresy,  incorrigibility,  simony,  impurity,  immodesty,  unchastity, 
fornication,  adultery,  incest,  rape,  piracy,  lying,  robbing,  murder, 
perjury  and  infidelity.  Pope  John  was  no  exception  to  the  rule, 
so  we  give  but  the  one  example.    But  like  pope,  like  priest^ 

But  as  our  rule  is  to  give  strictly  Roman  Catholic  authority 
for  every  statement  we  make,  we  will  now  introduce  to  the  reader 
Bishop  John  Hogan,  who  was  bishop  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  Kan- 
sas City  diocese,  and  who  confirmed  about  one  hundred  people  in 
the  Romish  church,  some  of  whom  were  the  children  of  Protest- 
ant parents. 

BISHOP  JOHN  J.  HOGAN's  LETTER^  MARKED  PRIVATE. 

Dear  Mr.  Lysaght  :  As  I  have  a  very  sincere  regard  for 
you  from  all  I  know  of  your  character,  through  a  test  of  many 
years,  I  consider  myself  discharging  a  duty  in  giving  you  an  in- 
side history  of  the  diocese  of  St.  Joseph,  especially  as  there  seems 
to  be  a  commotion  in  St.  Joseph  because  I  have  appointed  and 
ordained  Father  Ignatius  as  administrator  in  charge  of  the  ca- 
thedral parish.  It  was  a  great  surprise  to  me  when,  in  1868,  I 
got  a  notification  from  the  congregation  of  the  propaganda  at 
Rome  that  on  Feb.  25th,  previous,  I  was  appointed  bishop  of  the 
see  at  St.  Joseph.  When  the  surprise  wore  away,  I  began  to  study 
the  reality.  A  bishop's  see  in  St.  Joseph,  which  had  only  one 
parish  church,  with  division  boundaries  limited  to  a  few  counties 
in  the  least  Catholic  part  of  Missouri,  only  from  four  to  five  poor 
missions  with  a  total  Catholic  population  of  about  3,000  or  4,000 
souls;  no  cathedral,  no  bishop's  house,  no  decent  houses  for  the 


12«  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 


clergy,  no  seminary,  no  students,  no  means,  no  hopes  of  increas- 
ing the  population,  for  the  public  lands  had  long  before  all  been 
sold.  I  dared  not  face  so  wholly  a  hopeless  task.  I  was  called  on 
again  and  again  to  submit  myself.  It  was  only  after  the  Septem- 
ber following  that  I  could  bring  myself  to  consent  to  be  a  victim. 
1  was  consecrated  about  the  middle  of  September,  and  had  to  de- 
pend on  the  alms  especially  collected  for  the  occasion,  to  buy  some 
necessaries,  sacred  vestments,  and  to  pay  for  my  hack  hire  to  the 
depot.  The  railroad  companies  always  took  me  as  a  poor  mis- 
sionary over  their  railroad  lines  free  of  charge.  I  entered  St. 
Joseph  under  these  circumstances.  You  remember  the  time.  I 
need  not  speak  to  you  now  about  the  poor  church  that  was  before 
me,  or  the  shabby,  dirty  house  for  myself,  priests  and  servants  to 
huddle  in  together.  The  worst  of  all  was  how  to  get  priests.  The 
church  commands  bishops  to  have  a  seminary  of  their  own  and  to 
personally  inspect  and  superintend  the  bringing  up  of  students  for 
the  sacred  ministry.  St.  Joseph  had  no  seminary,  no  students,  no 
place  for  educating  priests,  no  Catholic  parents  sending  their  sons 
who  were  willing  to  pay  for  their  education  for  the  priesthood. 
I  had  no  means  for  getting  priests  but  such  as  offered  themselves. 
I  did  not  know  then  as  now  what  by  bitter  experience  I  know  too 
well,  that  priests  ordained  for  and  belonging  to  a  diocese  do  not 
leave  it  except  through  compulsion  or  expulsion,  especially  when 
the  change  is  from  a  rich  to  a  poor  diocese.  Such  expelled  priests 
are  a  happy  riddance  to  bishops  they  have  grieved  and  parishes 
they  have  scandalized,  but  they  are  a  withering  curse  to  bishops 
and  parishes  compelled  to  have  their  services.  It  is  true  a  bishop 
never  receives  a  priest  from  another  diocese  without  a  recom- 
mendation from  the  former  bishop,  but  the  former  bishops  are 
generally  heart  sore  from  scandals,  vexations  and  troubles,  and 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  121 


have  no  objection  whatever  to  have  trouble  removed  from  their 
own  doors,  and  also  in  their  charity  for  erring  priests,  in  their 
written  recommendations  of  them  they  give  them  honorable  men- 
tion for  every  good  quality  they  have,  but  never  mention  their 
faults,  hoping  that  priests,  when  they  get  a  new  place  and  get 
another  opportunity  to  do  good,  will  avoid  the  faults  that  got 
them  into  trouble  before.  But  alas,  human  nature  is  weak,  and 
when  temptations  come  again  they  are  yielded  to,  and  thus  it  is 
that  in  trying  to  pardon  and  lift  up  erring  men  we  have  only  to 
get  them  into  deeper  disgrace,  and  give  them  opportunity  to  dis- 
grace themselves  more  and  more,  and  to  carry  and  spread  dis- 
grace from  diocese  to  diocese  and  from  parish  to  parish.  In  this 
way  priests  are  known  to  go  from  Ireland  to  England,  and  thence 
to  Australia,  and  thence  to  America  through  the  United  States 
from  one  diocese  to  another,  pardoned  by  one  bishop,  exhorted  by 
another,  to  no  purpose  but  to  spread  quarrels,  contentions  and 
scandals  through  the  church  of  our  Blessed  Redeemer.  I  will  give 
you  some  examples : 

1869.  Received  in  St.  Joseph  diocese  Rev.  Michael  Haley, 
priest  of  diocese  of  Cloyne,  tried  in  diocese  of  Buffalo  and  failed, 
as  he  had  failed  in  Cloyne.  Recommended  from  diocese  of  Buf- 
falo to  diocese  of  St.  Joseph.  In  diocese  of  St.  Joseph  (Brookfield 
mission)  constantly  drunk;  once  made  an  assault  on  a  female. 
Got  sick,  was  taken  into  sisters'  hospital,  Felix  street,  St.  Joseph, 
and  died  there  in  1870. 

1869.  Received  into  the  diocese  of  St.  Joseph,  Rev.  P.  Mc- 
Ginnis  (Breckenridge  mission),  constantly  drunk.  Belonged  to 
diocese  of  Dubuque.    Sent  out  of  diocese  of  St.  Joseph  in  1870. 

1869.     Received  in  diocese  of  St.  Joseph,  Francis  O'Reilly, 


teKr^-';<^ 

i.i„i.  ■■    1 
1'.,  ', '  1     . 

lull  '     •<-''.■'      .  ' 

W' 

'  "i'Vi  'U?:'^'• 

,'11  i''  1  ii    '  1 

cr^  .1 

■ii',,  i',iii|    .  ' 

NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  123 

Student,  recommended  by  priests  of  St.  Louis.  O'Reilly  had  been 
a  student  in  Cleveland.  No  cause  assigned  for  leaving  Cleveland. 
After  ordination  had  charge  of  Plattsburg  mission.  Was  con- 
stantly drunk.  Afterward  got  permission  to  go  in  the  Newark, 
N.  J.,  diocese;  there  got  publicly  drunk  and  had  to  be  put  into  a 
hospital  asylum.  Is  now  going  around  from  city  to  city  a 
drunken  wreck. 

1869.  Received  into  the  diocese  of  St.  Joseph,  Rev.  George 
Turk  from  diocese  of  St.  Louis.  Got  charge  of  Conception  mis- 
sion. Was  constantly  drunk.  Got  the  people  of  his  congregation 
fighting  each  other  and  going  to  law  with  each  other,  fighting  at 
church  on  Sundays,  lawing  each  other  the  remainder  of  the  week 
in  court. 

I  can  not  give  you  a  history  of  each  individual  case  of  mis- 
fortune and  of  crime.  The  recital  would  be  too  long,  and  often 
too  shameful  in  detail.  I  mention  names  and  dates  only  of  a 
few : 

1869.  Rev.  Herguemoether,  Carrollton,  dismissed  1871. 

1870.  Heffinger,  Carrollton,  dismissed  1872, 
1870.     Rev.  Foley,  Liberty,  dismissed  1871. 
1870.     Drohan,  dismissed  1872. 

1870.  Seebold,  Weston,  dismissed  1873. 

1870.  Gotagh,  Maryville,  dismissed  1870. 

1 87 1.  Saigmule,  cathedral,  dismissed  1872. 
1 87 1.  J.  Jacobs,  cathedral,  dismissed  1872. 

1 87 1.  H.  Jacobs,  dismissed  1872. 

1 87 1.  Steindle,  Brunswick,  dismissed  1872. 

1872.  McMahon,  Weston,  dismissed  1872. 

1873.  Jerre  Murphy,  commissioned  land  jobber,  dismissed 

187^. 


124  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM.^ 


1875 
1875 
1876 
1876 
1876 
1876 


Zwyte,  Saxton,  dismissed  1878. 
Munt,  cathedral,  dismissed  1878. 
A.  Here,  Plattsburg,  dismissed  1877. 
Gealin,  cathedral,  dismissed  1877. 
Herbert,  cathedral,  dismissed  1877. 
Kiley,  cathedral,  dismissed  1877. 


The  constant,  shameful,  public,  sacrilegious,  drunkenness  of 
the  last  three  named  priests,  who  were  by  my  side  at  the  cathedral 
determined  me  to  wipe  them  and  their  kind  out  of  my  jurisdiction. 

Herbert,  after  repeated  drunkenness,  went  into  a  spree  for  a 
week  in  my  house;  was  in  the  house,  broke  out  at  night,  got  into 
a  house  of  disreputable  women  in  his  drunkenness,  and  was 
thrown  out  into  the  street,  picked  up  drunk,  recognized  and  taken 
into  a  house  and  made  sober,  and  was  put  into  a  carriage  and 
taken  to  my  house. 

That  evening  Gealin  and  Kiley  were  told  by  me  to  prepare 
for  the  proper  celebration  of  the  feast  of  patronage  of  St.  Joseph 
for  Easter  Sunday.  On  Saturday  night  they  stayed  up  all  night, 
drinking,  carousing  and  shouting.  Kiley  fell  down,  blackened 
and  almost  broke  his  face  in  falling.  Of  course,  the  two  sacrileg- 
ious priests  said  mass  the  next  day,  and  Kiley  went  into  the  pulpit 
and  preached,  with  his  blackened  and  bruised  face,  to  the  people 
of  the  cathedral.  This  was  on  the  feast  of  the  diocese  and  of  the 
universal  church.  It  was  time  for  me  to  begin  a  reformation,  and 
before  God  I  made  the  following  resolutions : 

First,  not  to  take  a  priest  of  any  other  diocese  into  mine, 
even  though  his  bishop  would  recommend  him.  Bishops  are  all 
charitable  and  often  recommend  a  person  for  what  virtues  he  had 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  125 

and  do  not  mention  his  faults,  besides  good  priests  are  not  known 
to  leave  their  diocese  and  go  elsewhere. 

Second,  never  to  receive  into  my  diocese  a  person  who  had 
belonged  to  another  diocese  and  had  left  or  was  dismissed,  even 
if  he  had  a  recommendation. 

Third,  never  to  receive  into  my  diocese  a  student  belonging 
to  another  diocese  who  had  left  or  been  dismissed,  even  if  he  was 
recommended. 

Fourth,  never  to  admit  to  the  oriesthood  a  Christian  member 
or'a  lay  member  to  any  order  who  had  left  or  was  dismissed  by 
that  order,  even  if  recommended. 

Under  these  rules  my  diocese  began  to  prosper,  and  I  hope 
in  good  time  prosperity  with  the  foregoing  rules  put  in  execution. 

I  am  now  very  careful,  or  as  careful  as  I  can  possibly  be,  in 
selecting  young  priests,  and  herein  again  I  am  at  the  mercy  of 
those  who  are  inexperienced  and  too  easy  and  indulgent  in  recom- 
mending students  for  ordination.  I  allude  to  superiors  of  sem- 
inaries, who,  though  pious  and  wise  men,  lack  experience  which 
bishops  have. 

It  is  a  bishop's  duty  to  know  his  students  well  and  personally, 
if  he  can  before  ordaining  them.  This  I  can  not  do,  because  my 
diocese  is  too  remote  to  build  and  maintain  a  seminary. 

My  seminaries  are  either  in  Ireland,  Canada  or  the  eastern 
states,  and  I  must  depend  on  the  judgment  of  priests  in  charge  of 
these  seminaries  to  send  me  good  men. 

Often,  also,  they  send  out  young  men,  priests  poorly  edu- 
cated, but  pious,  awkward  countrymen  and  with  many  defects,  in 
such  cases  setting  complaint  between  them  and  their  congrega- 
tions over  whom,  in  God's  name,  I  must  place  them  for  better  or 
for  worse. 


126  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

From  the  foregoing  you  must  see  how  trying  and  harassing 
it  is  to  live  the  Hfe  of  a  bishop,  whom  the  world  regards  as  not 
only  a  happy  man,  but  as  a  man  who  has  an  easy  time  of  it,  noth- 
ing in  fact  to  do  but  sit  and  enjoy  himself.  Why  I  mention  all 
this  is  to  show  you  under  what  straits  one  is  put  to  get  priests,  and 
I  appointed  Father  Ignatius  to  the  Cathedral,  not  that  I  prefer  a 
German  or  a  Swiss  to  a  man  of  my  own  faithful  Ireland,  but  be- 
cause the  sons  of  St.  Patrick  had  for  a  time  forgotten  themselves, 
and,  before  God,  and  answerable  to  Him,  I  had  no  better  to  go  to 
St.  Joseph  cathedral  than  Father  Ignatius,  for  St.  Joseph  parish, 
and  I  want  you  and  your  friends  to  do  nothing  to  oppose  my 
work,  which  is  God's  work. 

When  God  gives  me,  in  His  holy  adorable  providence,  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  supply  St.  Joseph  cathedral  with  a  better 
priest  than  Father  Ignatius,  I  will  send  him  in  God's  name, 
but  Father  Ignatius  is,  as  far  as  I  know,  a  good  priest,  and 
I  do  not  know  anything  to  the  contrary.  No  one  has  accused  him 
to  me  of  neglect  of  duty,  and  therefore  I  can  not  throw  him  out 
of  a  place  to  make  way  for  men  of  whom  I  know  nothing  at  all. 
Therefore  I  send  them  back  in  God's  name,  and  I  ask  of  you, 
my  dear  friends,  that  kindness  that  may  draw  children  in  Christ 
and  whom  I  love  tenderly,  and  to  receive  him  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  our  Redeemer. 

Please  pardon  me,  my  dear  sir,  for  this  very  hastily  written 
letter.  Indeed,  I  have  very  much  to  do,  not  even  time  for  all 
crosses  and  duties,  and  besides,  to  care  for  my  immortal  soul,  my 
own  immortal  imperishable  soul;  for  if  I  lose  my  soul  what  can 
I  gain? 

y  secretary  might  have  written  this  letter  more  carefully 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  127 

to  you,  as  I  am  so  pressed  for  time,  but  this  matter  is  too  mucli 
between  ourselves  that  I  would  not  entrust  it  to  him. 

Begging  your  prayers  for  myself  and  all  my  charge,  I  re- 
main, very  truly  and  sincerely, 

Your  humble  servant, 

John  J.  Hogan,  Bishop. 

Such,  dear  reader,  is  the  character  of  the  Romish  priesthood, 
who,  in  their  office  of  confessor,  comes  between  you  and  your 
wife,  between  mother  and  daughter,  and  who  profess  to  forgive 
their  sins,  though  they  may  become  "his  accomplice  in  sin." 

The  St.  Joseph  and  Kansas  City  diocese,  of  which  Joht! 
Hogan  was  bishop,  is  no  exception.  We  could  fill  a  chapter  with 
the  names  of  priests  in  the  United  States,  whose  sins  of  seduction, 
rape,  alienating  wife  from  husband,  eloping  with  other  men's 
wives,  etc.,  would  confirm  beyond  all  doubt,  the  fact  that  the 
diocese  of  which  Hogan  was  bishop  is  above  the  average  in  moral 
purity. 

But  how  could  it  be  otherwise?  They  know  nothing  of  a; 
change  of  heart.  Their  only  preparation  for  the  office  of  the 
priesthood  is  drinking  from  that  filthy  and  putrid  cesspool  of 
moral  rottenness  prepared  for  them  by  the  devil  himself,  through 
human  agencies.  The  God  who  said  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart"  has  no  part,  no  lot  in  the  matter,  and  with  a  corrupt  nature 
continually  fed  and  nourished  upon  a  diet  of  moral  putridity,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  the  Romish  priest  is  a  living,  moving  impersona- 
tion of  all  that  is  corrupt.  There  are  doubtless  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  but,  to  say  the  least,  it  is  at  great  peril  that  you  turn  away 
from  the  word  of  God  and  His  revealed  truth,  and  accept  a  Rom- 


128  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 

ish  priest  as  your  spiritual  guide  called  religion  incompatible 
with,  not  only  the  ten  commandments,  but  with  every  phase  of 
moral  precept  given  us  by  tlie  incarnate  Savior.  We  would  not 
argue  that,  because  a  few  or  many  priests,  bishops  and  popes 
are  bad  that  the  system  necessarily  is  bad;  but  when  we  study 
the  system  itself,  we  see  that  there  is  no  soundness  in  it.  A 
system  to  be  true  must  be  truthful,  and  must  hold  the  truth  as 
sacred  above  everything  else,  even  above  the  system  itself.  This 
we  find  is  not  true  of  Romanism. 


Chapter  X. 

Why  Priests  Should  Marry. 


You  cannot  find  a  priest's  residence  but  what  he  has  from 
one  to  half  a  dozen  female  housekeepers,  and  always  the  majority 
of  them  are  fair  of  face  and  form.  If  some  bright  morning  you 
would  learn  that  your  near  neighbor  was  living  with  one  or  more 
females,  neither  of  which  was  related  to  him,  your  indignation 
would  know  no  bounds,  then  why  should  you  sit  idly  by  and 
allow  a  Catholic  priest  to  live  in  open  violation  to  every  rule  of 
moral  and  natural  law.  It  is  our  duty  to  write  what  we  believe 
to  be  right  in  the  eyes  of  God,  and  not  from  a  love  of  obscenity, 
but  because  Americans  owe  it  to  themselves  to  read  what  shall 
be  written,  and,  if  they  choose  and  will,  to  read  betzveen  the  lines 
as  well.  Naturally,  one  recoils  from  such  a  work  as  this.  There 
is  nothing  in  it  but  a  record  of  shame  and  sorrow.  It  is  uncover- 
ing the  sewer  of  our  American  life,  and  showing  what  is  being 
dumped  into  it  of  badness  from  beyond  the  sea.  It  opens  the 
dark  passages  of  European  life,  and  reveals  the  priesthood  to  the 
eyes  of  all,  iiot  alone  as  they  have  long  been  seen  in  Rome,  in 

C9) 


130  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  VF  ROMANISM. 

Italy,  Spain,  France  and  elsewhere,  but  as  they  are  living  in 
our  midst,  as  they  have  had  power  to  live  in  the  Old  World,  and 
be  the  pestilence  of  Christianity,  the  plague-spot  of  morality, 
and  the  outrageous  exception  to  much  they  might  be  and  ought 
to  have  been.    Paul  described  them  as  men  "who  love  themselves, 
covetous,  boasters,  proud,  blasphemers,  without  natural  affection, 
false  accusers,   incontinent,  fierce,   despisers  of  those  that  are 
good,  traitors,  heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasure  more  than 
lovers  of  God,  having  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power 
thereof;  from  such  turn  away.     For  of  this  sort  are  they  which 
destroy  homes.    If  a  marriage  is  a  sacred  compact  for  man  and 
woman  to  enter  into,  and  this  compact  is  sacred  enough  to  be 
solemnized  by  a  priest,  it  must  be  a  strange  compact  if  it  is  not 
holy  and  good  enough  for  a  priest.    When  the  time  comes  for  me 
to  publicly  announce  that  the  holy  bonds  of  matrimony  that  my 
dear  father  and  mother  entered  into  is  unclean  and  not  good  and 
sacred  enough  for  a  priest,  then  may  the  good  Lord  that  rules  the 
universe  dry  up  every  drop  of  vitality  that  is  in  my  body.     The 
world  knows  that  here  is  nothing  more  liable  to  tempt  woman  to 
fall  than  familiarity,  and  familiarity  ripens  quicker,  and  the  bud  is 
more  easily  plucked  when  left  alone  to  commune  with  one  another, 
with  the  assurance  that  no  human  ear   shall   hear  what  is  said. 
When  one  goes  to  a  priest  to  confess,  they  are  entirely  alone ;  no 
ear  is  near  to  hear  what  is  said.    The  priest  knows  full  well  that 
he  has  the  subject  completely  under  his  power,  for  their  education 
from  infancy  has  been  that  priests  can  not  sin;  therefore,  he  relies 
implicitly  upon  their  ignorance,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  ask  any 
question  that  the  devil  may  prompt  him  to  do.    Imagine,  if  you 
can,  the  influence  a  lustful  griest  must  have  upon  a  wom^n  who 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  131 

Relieves  in  the  purity  of  that  priest,  an3  actually  believes  that  it  is 
an  impossibility  for  him  to  sin.  The  confessional  places  the 
penitent  and  priest  ear  to  ear,  breath  to  breath,  eye  to  eye,  lip  to 
lip,  if  he  pleases. 

There  were  none  of  them  in  the  Romish  church  in  Albany, 
and  these  priests  had  to  hear  confessions  in  the  sacristy  of  the 
church.  This  is  a  small  room  back  of  the  altar,  in  which  the 
eucharist,  containing,  according  to  the  Romish  belief,  the  real 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  is  kept  while  mass  is  not  celebrating  in 
the  chapel.  This  room  is  always  fastened  by  a  lock  and  key  of  the 
best  w^orkmanship,  and  the  key  kept  by  the  priest  day  and  night. 
In  the  sacristy,  containing  the  wafer,  which  the  priests  blas- 
phemously adore,  the  lecherous  priests  committed  habitually  those 
acts  of  immorality  and  crime.  If  this  was  so  in  Albany  in  1845, 
why  may  it  not  be  so  there  and  elsewhere  at  this  hour  ?  Do  Amer- 
icans think  at  all  of  that  state  of  society  which  exists  in  this  coun- 
try where  priests  rule  ?  Popery  has  not  to  be  in  the  ascendant  in 
this  country,  that  priests  may  rule.  Who  interferes  with  their 
damnable  acts  ?  Romanists  on  the  jury  refuse  to  convict  a  priest. 
Women  uphold  him  in  wrong-doing.  No  matter  what  he  does,  he 
goes  back  to  his  altar  and  to  his  adulteries  and  debaucheries,  and 
Americans  say  it  is  none  of  their  business.  But  it  is  their  business. 
Sin,  palliated  and  condoned,  lowers  the  standardof  morality,  and 
injures  society.  The  loose  idea  of  marriage  and  wedlock  come 
largely  from  the  influence  exerted  by  priests.  If  a  priest  can  take 
a  man's  wife  to  his  room,  or  to  a  hotel,  and  enjoy  her  society,  a 
husband  can  do  the  same.  It  is  pitiable;  it  is  terrible;  and  there 
must  be  an  appeal  and  a  remedy. 

One  sabbath  afternoon,  in  Music  Hall,  a  converted  nun 


A  Philippine  beauty,  who  entices  tourists  and  men  of  means  into  the  res- 
idences of  Native  Friars,  and  by  the  help  of  these  Friar  Priests 
are  made  drunk  and  robbed, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  133 

handed  in  this  request :  "Pray  for  my  poor,  benighted  relations 
who  are  yet  in  the  bonds  of  iniquity  and  the  gall  of  bitterness. 
My  poor  little  niece,  who  is  now  in  Boston,  out  of  work,  was  put 
into  a  convent  when  three  years  of  age,  and  has  been  since  then 
the  mother  of  two  children  before  she  was  nineteen  years  of  age, 
one  living  and  one  dead.  She  was  living  with  a  priest  when  these 
children  were  born;  is  now  turned  out  upon  the  world,  without 
work,  without  a  home,  and  can  neither  read  nor  write."  This  is 
but  a  specimen  of  hundreds  of  letters  which  reveal  the  extent  of 
this  iniquity,  about  which  the  American  people  know  so  little,  and 
care  less.    The  priest  is  in  the  zvay. 

In  M.  Michelet's  "Auricular  Confession  and  Direction,"  we 
find  this : 

"The  family  is  in  question;  that  home  where  we  would  all 
fain  repose,  after  so  many  useless  efforts,  so  many  illusions 
destroyed  .  We  return  home  very  wearied — do  we  find  repose 
there?  We  must  not  dissimulate.  We  must  frankly  confess  to 
ourselves  the  real  state  of  things.  There  exists  in  the  bosom  of 
society,  in  the  family  circle,  a  serious  dissension — nay,  the  most 
serious  of  all  dissensions. 

"We  may  talk  with  our  mothers,  our  wives,  or  our  daughters, 
on  all  those  matters  about  which  we  talk  with  our  acquaintances, 
on  business,  on  the  news  of  the  day,  but  not  at  all  on  matters  near- 
est the  heart — on  religion,  on  God,  on  the  soul. 

"Take  the  instant  when  you  would  find  yourself  united  with 
your  family  in  one  com^mon  feeling,  in  the  repose  of  the  evening, 
round  the  family  table.  There  in  your  home,  at  your  own  hearth, 
venture  to  utter  a  word  on  these  matters.  Your  mother  sadly 
shakes  her  head;  your  wife  contradicts  you;  your  daughter,  al- 


134         mNETEBNm  CBNWRY^  DMEDS  OR  HiOMdNISM. 

though  silent,  disapproves.  They  are  on  one  side  of  the  table,  you 
on  the  other  alone. 

"It  would  seem  as  if  in  the  midst  of  them,  opposite  you,  sal 
an  invisible  enemy  to  contradict  what  you  say. 

"The  invisible  enemy  here  spoken  of  is  the  priest." 

Is  that  true?    If  it  is  true,  ought  it  to  remain  true ? 

God's  Word  says,  *Tt  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be 
alone;  I  will  make  him  an  help  meet  for  him."  "For  this  cause 
shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  shall  be  joined  unto 
his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh."  "Wherefore  [said 
Christ]  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh.  What  therefore 
God  hath  joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder."  Romanism 
sets  aside  all  these  commands.  The  priest  comes  between  the 
man  and  his  wife,  between  parents  and  their  children.  The  rela- 
tion is  defiance  of  God's  Word  and  the  welfare  of  the  home,  and 
should  be  opposed  and  abrogated. 

As  confessor,  the  priest  possesses  the  secret  of  a  woman's 
soul :  "He  knows  every  half  formed  hope,  every  dim  desire,  every 
thwarted  feeling.  The  priest,  as  spiritual  director,  animates  that 
woman  with  his  own  ideas,  moves  her  with  his  own  will,  fashions 
her  according  to  his  own  fancy.  And  this  priest  is  doomed  to  celi- 
bacy. He  is  a  man,  but  is  bound  to  pluck  from  his  heart  the  feel- 
ings of  a  man.  If  he  is  without  fault,  he  makes  desperate  use  of 
his  power  over  those  confiding  in  him.  If  he  is  sincerely  devout, 
he  has  to  struggle  with  his  passions,  and  there  is  a  perilous  chance 
of  his  being  defeated  in  that  struggle.  And  even  should  he  come 
off  victorious,  still  the  mischief  done  is  incalculable  and  irrepara- 
ble. The  woman's  virtue  has  been  preserved  by  an  accident,  by  a 
power  extraneous  to  herself.    She  was  wax  in  her  spiritual  di- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  135 

rector's  hands;  she  has  ceased  to  be  a  person,  and  is  become  a 
thing.    The  priest  is  the  cause  of  all  this,  and  is  a  plague." 

There  is  something  diabolical  in  the  institution  of  celibacy. 
The  history  of  its  origin  is  a  story  of  brutality  seldom  matched. 
Imagine  the  ministry  of  to-day  compelled  to  separate  from  their 
wives;  see  them  rated  as  bad;  also  from  their  children,  and  be- 
hold them  rated  as  bastards.  Can  anything  be  more  infamous, 
more  cruel,  more  unnatural  ? 

The  battle  against  marriage  in  the  priesthood  culminated  in 
1073,  during  the  reign  of  Pope  Gregory  VII,  known  as  Hilde- 
brand.  His  character  has  been  outlined  by  innumerable  pens.  His 
austere  virtue,  simple  piety,  vast  knowledge,  and  ability  to  rule 
men;  his  well-known  intrepidity,  which  seemed  to  delight  in  con- 
fronting the  most  powerful;  a  stern  singleness  of  purpose,  and 
yet  a  subtle  policy  which  bordered  on  craft,  gave  him  the  support 
and  confidence  of  those  who  were  ruled  by  his  imperious  will. 

The  object  he  had  in  view  was  the  absolute  independency  of 
the  clergy  and  of  the  Pope;  of  the  great  prelates  throughout  Latin 
Christianity,  down  to  the  lowest  functionary,  whose  person  was  to 
become  sacred.  The  clergy  were  to  become  a  separate  and  inviola- 
ble caste.  It  is  a  sad  story.  Who  can  depict  the  bitterness  and  the 
sorrow  of  heart,  when  husbands  and  fathers  were  compelled  by  a 
cruel  edict  to  separate  from  wives  and  children,  in  opposition  to 
the  teachings  of  Scripture  and  the  promptings  of  human  nature? 
The  act  was  cruelty  personified.  No  wonder  that  some  of  the 
wives  committed  suicide,  others  died  in  their  beds  from  grief  or 
by  their  own  hands,  and  others  fought  for  their  rights  against 
fearful  odds.  With  many  of  the  clergy,  It  was  a  matter  of  delib- 
erate conviction  that  they  ought  to  marry,  founded  not  only  on 


136  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

the  authority  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  on  the  usage  of  the  primitive 
Church  justified  by  the  law  of  Eastern  Christendom,  and  asserted 
to  rest  on  a  conscientious  assurance  of  the  evils  resulting  from 
enforced  celibacy.  They  believed  that  marriage  was  God's  own 
appointment  for  man's  true  happiness,  the  propagation  of  the 
race;  and  the  propensity  to  obey  that  law  is  so  strong,  that,  with- 
out compliance,  health  is  impaired,  morality  is  weakened,  and  the 
voice  of  religion  is  disobeyed.  It  is  a  well-established  fact  that 
health,  the  foundation  of  happiness,  is  best  insured  by  the  mar- 
riage relation.  There  is  a  mysterious  magnetic  bond  which  binds 
husband  and  wife  together,  unknown  to  those  in  celibacy — like 
the  needle  to  the  pole  it  rules — and  is  explained  by  saying,  it  is 
the  law  of  God. 

"Celibacy  leaves  men  and  women  liable  in  daily  intercourse 
to  be  enticed,  drawn  magnetically  by  natural  impulses  into  the 
vortex  of  animal  passions,  which,  unrestrained,  become  sin  of  a 
corroding  and  deadly  nature,  proving  clearly  it  is  not  good  for 
man  to  be  alone,  and  that  to  obey  God's  law  is  the  sure  path  to 
true  happiness  as  surely  as  sunshine  produces  health  and  growth." 

The  unmarried  confessor  has  been  set  forth  by  Paul  Louis 
Courier  in  words  that  ought  to  be  read  and  pondered. 

"What  a  life,  what  a  condition,  is  that  of  our  priests !  Love 
is  forbidden  them — marriage  especially :  women  are  given  up  to 
them.  They  may  not  have  one  of  their  own,  and  yet  live  familiarly 
with  all,  nay,  in  confidential,  intimate  privity  of  their  hidden  ac- 
tions, of  all  their  thoughts.  An  innocent  girl  first  hears  the  priest 
under  her  mother's  wing;  he  then  calls  her  to  him,  speaks  alone 
with  her,  and  is  the  first  to  talk  of  sin  to  her  before  she  can  have 
known  it.  When  instructed^  she  marries ;  when  married,  he  stiU 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  137 

confesses  and  governs  her.  He  has  preceded  the  husband  in  her 
affections,  and  will  always  maintain  himself  in  them.  What  she 
would  not  venture  to  confide  to  her  mother,  or  confess  to  her 
husband,  he,  a  priest,  must  know  it,  asks  it,  hears  it,  and  yet  shall 
not  be  her  lover.  How  could  he,  indeed  ?  Is  he  not  tonsured  ?  He 
hears  whispered  in  his  ear,  by  a  young  woman,  her  faults,  her 
passions,  desires,  weaknesses,  receives  her  sighs  without  feeling 
agitated,  and  he  is  five  and  twenty ! 

"To  confess  a  woman !  Imagine  what  it  is.  At  the  end  of 
a  church  a  species  of  closet,  or  sentry  box,  is  erected  against  the 
wall,  where  the  priest  awaits,  in  the  evening  after  vespers,  his 
young  penitent,  whom  he  loves,  and  who  knows  it :  love  cannot 
be  concealed  from  the  beloved  person.  You  will  stop  me  there — 
his  character  of  priest,  his  education,  his  vows.  .  .  I  reply  that 
there  is  no  vow  that  holds  good;  that  every  village  cure,  just  come 
from  the  seminary,  healthy,  robust,  and  vigorous,  doubtless  loves 
one  of  his  parishioners.  It  cannot  be  otherwise ;  and,  if  you  con- 
test this,  I  will  say  more  still ;  and  that  is,  that  he  loves  them  all — 
those,  at  least,  of  his  own  age;  but  he  prefers  one,  who  appears  to 
him,  if  not  more  beautiful  than  the  others,  more  modest  and  wiser, 
and  whom  he  would  marry;  he  would  make  her  a  virtuous,  pious 
wife,  if  it  were  not  for  the  Pope.  He  sees  her  daily,  and  meets 
her  at  church  or  elsewhere,  and,  sitting  opposite  her  in  the  winter 
evenings,  he  imbibes,  imprudent  man,  the  poison  of  her  eyes. 

"Now  I  ask  you,  when  he  hears  that  one  coming  the  next  day, 
and  approaching  the  confessional,  and  when  he  recognizes  her 
footsteps,  and  can  say,  It  is  she,  what  is  passing  in  the  mind  of 
the  poor  confessor?  Honesty,  duty,  mere  resolutions,  are  here 
of  little  use  without  peculiarly  heavenly  grace.    I  will  suppose 


138  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

him  a  saint;  unable  to  fly,  he  apparently  groans,  sighs,  recom- 
mends himself  to  God;  but,  if  he  is  only  a  man,  he  shudders,  de- 
sires, and  already,  unwillingly,  without  knowing  it,  perhaps,  he 
hopes.  She  arrives,  kneels  down  at  his  knees  before  him  whose 
heart  leaps  and  palpitates.  You  are  young,  sir,  or  you  have  been 
so ;  between  ourselves,  what  do  you  think  of  such  a  situation  for 
your  daughter  or  your  wife,  and  such  a  man  ?  Alone  most  oi  the 
time,  and  having  these  walls,  these  vaulted  roofs,  as  sole  wit- 
nesses, they  talk — of  what?  alas]  Of  all  that  is  not  innocent. 
Tiiey  talk,  or  rather  murmur,  in  low  voice;  and  their  lips  ap- 
proach each  other,  and  their  breaths  mingle.  This  lasts  for  an 
hour  or  more,  and  is  often  renewed. 

"Do  you  think  I  invent?  This  scene  takes  place  such  as  I 
describe  it;  is  renewed  daily  by  thousands  of  young  priests,  with 
as  many  young  girls  whom  they  love,  because  they  are  men, 
whom  they  confess  in  this  manner,  because  they  are  priests;  and 
whom  they  do  not  marry,  because  the  Pope  is  opposed  to  it. 

"The  priest  has  the  spiritual  care  of  her  he  loves;  her  soul 
is  in  his  hands.  He  is  connected  with  her  by  the  most  sacred  ties ; 
his  interest  in  her  he  disguises  to  himself  under  the  cloak  of  spir- 
itual anxiety.  He  can  always  quiet  the  voice  of  conscience  by 
an  equivoque — the  mystic  language  of  religion;  and  what  guilt 
is  shrouded  under  this  equivoque,  the  history  of  the  priestcraft 
may  show.  Parler  Vamour,  c'est  faire  I'amour.  To  speak  love  is 
to  make  love,  especially  when  this  man  Is  a  priest,  that  is  to  say, 
a  mediator  between  the  woman  and  God,  and  who  says :  'God 
hears  you  through  me;  through  me  He  will  reply.'  This  man 
whom  she  has  seen  at  the  altar,  and  there  invested  with  all  the 
sacred  robes  and  sacred  associations  of  his  office;  whom  she  has 


MNETEBNTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  189 

visited  in  the  confessional,  and  there  laid  bare  her  soul  to  him; 
whose  visits  she  has  received  in  her  boudoir,  and  there  submitted 
to  his  direction;  this  man,  whom  she  worships — is  supposed  to 
be  an  idea,  a  priest;  no  one  supposing  him  to  be  a  man,  with  a 
man's  passions !" 

Liorente  (sec.  in,  ch.  88,  art.  2,  ed.  181 7)  relates  that 
when  he  was  secretary  to  the  Inquisition,  a  Capuchin  was  brought 
before  that  tribunal  who  directed  a  community  of  beguines,  and 
had  seduced  nearly  all  of  them  by  persuading  than  that,  by  yield- 
ing to  his  solicitations,  they  were  not  leaving  the  road  to  perfec- 
tion. He  told  each  of  them,  in  the  confessional,  that  he  had  re- 
ceived from  God  a  singular  favor.  "Our  Lord,"  he  said,  "has 
deigned  to  show  himself  to  me  in  the  sacrament,  and  has  said  to 
me :  'Almost  all  the  souls  that  thou  dost  direct  here  are  pleasing 
to  me,  but  especially  such  a  one  (the  Capuchin  named  her  to 
whom  he  spoke.)  She  is  already  so  perfect  that  she  has  con- 
quered every  passion  except  carnal  desire,  which  torments  her 
very  much.  Therefore,  wishing  virtue  to  have  its  reward,  and 
that  she  should  serve  me  tranquilly,  I  charge  thee  to  give  her  a 
dispensation,  but  only  to  be  made  use  of  by  thee.  She  need  speak 
of  it  to  no  confessor;  that  would  be  useless,  as  with  such  a  dis- 
pensation she  cannot  sin.' " 

"Out  of  seventeen  beguines,  of  which  the  community  was 
composed,  the  intrepid  Capuchin  gave  the  dispensation  to  thir- 
teen, who  were  discreet  for  some  length  of  time;  but  at  last  one 
of  them  fell  ill,  expected  to  die,  and  discovered  everything,  de- 
claring that  she  had  never  been  able  to  believe  in  the  dispensation, 
but  that  she  had  profited  by  it." 

"I  remember,"  said  Liorente,  "having  said  to  him:     *But 


140  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Father,  is  it  not  astonishing  that  this  singular  virtue  should  have 
belonged  exactly  to  the  thirteen  young  and  handsome  ones,  and 
not  at  all  to  the  other  four  who  were  ugly  and  old?'  He  coolly 
replied :    'The  Holy  Spirit  inspires  where  it  listeth.'  " 

The  same  author,  in  the  same  chapter,  while  reproaching 
Protestants  with  having  exaggerated  the  corruptions  of  con- 
fessors, avows  that  "in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Inquisition  had 
imposed  on  women  the  obligation  of  denouncing  guilty  confes- 
sors ;  but  the  denunciations  were  so  numerous  that  the  penitents 
were  declared  dispensed  from  denouncement." 

It  was  William  Hogan  who  said:  "The  title  of  Christian 
land  should  not  be  given  to  this  nor  to  any  country  which  permits 
the  cowl  to  shelter  adulteries  of  this  sort.  Are  the  sons  of  free- 
men," he  asks,  "required  to  countenance,  nay,  asked  to  build  im- 
passable walls  around,  a  licentious,  lecherous,  profligate  horde  of 
foreign  monks  and  priests,  who  choose  to  come  among  us  and 
erect  little  fortifications,  which  they  call  nunneries,  for  their  pro- 
tection, and  for  the  gratification  of  their  passions?  Shall  they 
own,  by  law  and  by  charter,  places  where  to  bury,  hidden  from  the 
public  eye,  the  victims  of  their  lust,  and  the  murdered  offspring 
of  their  concupiscence  ?  Beware,  Americans !  There  are  bounds 
beyond  which  sinners  cannot  go.  Bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
same  God  who  can  limit  the  sphere  of  an  individual's  crimes,  can 
also  limit  those  of  a  nation.  You  have  flourished.  Take  heed 
lest  you  begin  to  decay  before  you  come  to  full  maturity.  Already 
can  I  see  the  hectic  flush  of  moral  consumption  upon  the  fair  face 
of  America ;  already  can  I  see  a  demon  bird  of  ill  omen,  plunging 
its  poisoned  beak  into  the  very  vitals  of  your  national  existence, 
stopping  here,  and  stopping  there,  only  to  dip  his  wings  in  the  life- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  141 

stream  of  your  natlnal  existence,  with  the  sole  view  of  giving  its 
speed  more  momentum,  until  it  encompasses  the  whole  length 
and  breadth  of  your  country." 

The  decay  of  nations  is  brought  about  by  infidelity  to  the 
God  of  nations;  and  how  can  this  country  prosper  if  it  aids 
Popery  with  its  idolatries?  It  cannot  be.  A  nation,  to  prosper, 
must  be  rectus  in  curia,  right  at  least  before  God.  The  warning 
is  needed.    Will  it  be  heeded  ? 

In  turning  thought  to  the  history  of  the  fight  for  the  celibacy 
of  the  priesthood  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  one  is  impressed 
with  the  truth  that  what  is  unwritten  and  is  known  only  to  God, 
and  is  remembered  by  him,  is  far  more  terrible  and  atrocious  than 
what  is  written.  Up  to  the  present  time  no  one  has  dared  put  into 
English  the  truth  concerning  celibacy.  It  blackens  the  page  of 
history,  it  degrades  peoples,  curses  the  home,  and  spreads  its 
blight  over  every  hope  and  aspiration  of  those  who  rest  under 
its  shadow,  or  are  afflicted  by  its  presence. 

Celibacy  is  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  teachings  of  the  word 
of  God.  That  ought  to  be  sufficient  with  people  who  believe  that 
the  word  of  God  is  a  lamp  to  our  feet,  and  a  light  to  our  path. 

"A  bishop,"  says  Paul,  "must  be  blameless,  the  husband  of 
one  wife."  In  the  Douay  Version  is  this  not  on  the  words,  "the 
husband  of  one  wife."  The  meaning  is,  'Hhaf  no  one  should  be 
admitted  to  the  holy  orders  of  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon,  who  had 
been  married  more  than  once.''  Then,  surely,  it  is  not  the  mean- 
ing that  a  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon  should  never  be  married. 
Peter  led  about  a  wife.  For  more  than  three  centuries  every; 
pastor  of  the  Church  was  allowed  to  marry.  ' 

Pope  Siricius,  384-398,  first  enjoined  the  celibacj^  of  the 


mNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM.  143 

clergy,  and  attempted  to  harden  into  inflexible  statute  that  whicK 
had  been  left  before  to  usage  and  opinion.  Marriage  was  by  him 
interdicted,  and  he  wrote  in  the  tone  of  one  who  supposed  the 
usages  of  the  Church  of  Rome  were  to  be  received  as  those  of 
Christendom.  This  law,  while  it  implied  the  ascendency  of 
monastic  opinions,  showed  likewise  that  there  was  a  large  part  of 
the  clergy  who  could  only  be  coerced  into  celibacy  by  law.  Tem- 
porary concessions  were  made  to  those  who  confessed  it  was  a 
fault,  but  pleaded  ignorance  of  the  statute.  This  law  was  one 
of  the  characteristics  of  Latin  Christianity.  It  separated  the 
sacerdotal  order  from  the  rest  of  society,  from  the  common  human 
sympathies,  interests  and  affections.  It  justified  them  to  them- 
selves in  assuming  a  dignity  superior  to  the  rest  of  mankind,  and 
secured  their  title  to  enforce  acknowledgment  and  reverence  for 
that  superior  dignity.  The  monastic  principle,  admitting  vir- 
tually, at  least,  almost  to  its  full  extent,  the  Manichsean  tenet  of 
the  innate  sinfulness  of  all  sexual  intercourse  as  partaking  of 
the  inextinguishable  impurity  of  matter,  was  gradually  wrought 
into  the  general  feeling. 

Whether  marriage  was  treated  as  in  itself  an  evil,  perhaps 
to  be  tolerated,  but  still  degrading  to  human  nature,  as  by  Jerome 
and  the  more  ascetic  teachers ;  or  honored,  as  by  Augustine,  with 
specious  adulation,  only  to  exalt  virginity  to  a  still  loftier  height 
above  it — the  clergy  were  taught  to  assert  it  at  once  as  a  privi- 
lege, as  a  distinction,  as  the  consummation  and  the  testimony  to 
the  sacredness  of  their  order.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy  was  openly  opposed.  In  some  regions  the  married 
clergy  formed  the  majority,  and,  always  supporting  married 
bishops  by  their  suffrages  and  influence,  kept  up  a  formidable  sue- 


144  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM. 

cession.  Throughout  the  whole  period,  from  Pope  Siricius  to  the 
Reformation,  the  law  was  defied,  infringed,  eluded. 

"The  married  clergy  were  the  more  moral,  though  accused 
of  living  in  concubinage."    This  was  the  least  evil. 

Celibacy,  which  was  the  vital  energy  of  the  clergy,  was,  at 
the  same  time,  their  fatal  irremediable  weakness.  One-half,  at 
least  a  large  portion,  of  humankind  could  not  cease  to  be  human- 
kind. The  universal  voice,  which  arraigns  the  state  of  morals  as 
regards  sexual  intercourse  among  the  clergy,  is  not  that  of  their 
enemies  only;  it  is  their  own.  The  unmarried  clergy  were  dis- 
tinguished for  their  licentiousness.  "Henry,  Bishop  of  Liege, 
v/as  a  monster  of  depravity.  His  lust  was  promiscuous.  He  kept 
as  a  concubine  a  Benedictine  abbess.  He  boasted  in  a  public  ban- 
quet that  in  twenty-two  months  he  had  fourteen  children  born. 
This  was  not  the  worst;  there  was  foul  incest,  and  with  nuns." 

Hardly  less  repulsive,  in  some  respect  more  so,  as  it  em- 
braces the  clergy  and  some  of  the  converts  of  a  whole  province,  is 
the  disclosure,  as  undeniable  and  authentic,  of  sacerdotal  morals, 
in  the  Register  of  the  Visitations  of  Eudes  Rigaud,  Archbishop  of 
Rouen,  from  1 248-1 269,  There  is  one  convent  of  females  which 
might  almost  have  put  Boccaccio  to  the  blush.  Nepotism  became 
at  once  the  strength  and  the  infirmity,  the  glory  and  shame,  of  the 
Papacy.  This  is  not  different  at  this  hour.  In  one  of  our  cities, 
as  terrible  charges  are  made  against  a  late  bishop  as  any  that  were 
brought  against  the  Bishop  of  Liege.  It  is  painful  to  reflect  at 
how  early  a  period  unscriptural  notions  in  relation  to  celibacy  and 
marriage  began  to  prevail  among  the  professed  followers  of 
Christ.  These  unscriptural  opinions  were  owing  in  part  to  the 
superstitious  notions  which  began  to  prevail  at  a  very  early 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  145 

period,  in  relation  to  the  influence  of  malignant  demons.  It  was 
the  general  opinion  that  married  men  were  more  under  their  in- 
fluence than  celibates.  The  natural  consequence  was,  unmarried 
men  were  regarded  as  far  more  suitable  for  the  office  of  the  sacred 
ministry  than  such  as  had  contracted  the  defilement  of  matri- 
mony. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  protested  against  this  shocking  fa- 
naticism, pointing  it  out  as  a  characteristic  of  Antichrist,  and  of 
the  apostasy  of  the  latter  days,  that  there  should  be  those  who 
would  forbid  to  marry,  and  command  to  abstain  from  meats. 
"What!"  says  he,  "may  not  self-command  be  preserved' under  the 
conditions  of  married  life  ?  May;  not  marriage  be  used,  and  yet 
continence  be  respected,  without  our  attempting  to  sever  that 
which  the  Lord  hath  joined?  God  allozvs  every  man,  whether 
he  be  bishop,  priest,  or  deacon,  to  be  the  husband  of  one  wife, 
and  to  use  matrimony,  and  not  be  liable  to  censure." 

The  fight  in  England  was  terrific.  In  960  the  former  Abbot 
of  Glastonbury  was  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and,  as- 
sured of  the  favor  of  King  Edgar,  prepared  to  execute  the  grand 
design  which  he  had  long  meditated— of  compelling  the  secular 
canons  to  put  away  their  wives,  and  become  monks;  or  of  driv- 
ing them  out,  and  introducing  Benedictine  monks  in  their  room. 
With  this  view  he  procured  the  promotion  of  his  intimate  friend, 
Oswald,  to  the  See  of  Worcester,  and  of  Ethelwald  to  that  of 
Winchester — two  prelates  who  were  themselves  monks,  and  ani- 
mated with  the  most  ardent  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  their 
order.  The  trio  of  bishops,  the  ^reat  champions  of  the  monks, 
and  enemies  of  the  married  clergy,  now  proceeded  by  every 
possible  method  of  fraud  or  force,  to  drive  the  married  clergy 
ao) 


141)  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


out  of  all  the  monasteries,  or  compel  them  to  put  away  their 
wives  and  children.  Rather  than  consent  to  the  latter,  by  far 
the  greatest  number  chose  to  become  beggars  and  vagabonds, 
for  which  the  monkish  historians  gave  them  the  most  oppro- 
brious of  names.  To  countenance  these  cruel  and  tyrannical 
proceedings,  Dunstan  and  his  associates  held  up  the  mar- 
ried clergy  as  monsters  of  wickedness  for  cohabiting  with 
their  wives,  magnified  celibacy  as  the  only  state  becoming  th« 
sanctity  of  the  sacerdotal  office,  and  propagated  a  thousand  lies  of 
miracles  and  visions  to  its  honor.  In  969  a  commission  was 
granted  to  expel  the  married  canons  out  of  all  the  cathedrals  and 
larger  monasteries.  At  this  time  King  Edgar  made  a  flaming 
speech,  in  which  he  thus  addressed  Dunstan :  "I  know,  O  holy 
father  Dunstan!  that  you  have  not  encouraged  these  criminal 
practices  of  the  clergy.  You  have  reasoned,  entreated,  threatened. 
From  words  it  is  now  time  to  come  to  blows.  All  the  power  of 
the  crown  is  at  your  command.  Strike  boldly;  drive  these  irreg- 
ular livers  out  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  introduce  others  who 
will  live  according  to  rule."  "And  yet  this  furious  champion  for 
chastity  had,  some  time  before  the  delivery  of  this  harangue,  rav- 
ished a  nun,  a  young  lady  of  noble  birth  and  great  beauty,  at 
which  his  holy  father  confessor  was  so  much  offended,  that  he 
enjoined  him,  by  way  of  penance,  not  to  wear  his  crown  for  seven 
years;  to  build  a  nunnery,  and  to  persecute  the  married  clergy 
with  all  his  might, — a  strange  way  of  making  atonement  for  his 
own  libertinism,  by  depriving  others  of  their  natural  rights  and 
liberties." 

The  history  of  clerical  celibacy  may  be  divided  into  two 
2eriods.    The  one  begins  with  the  edict  of  Siricius  in  385,  and 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  1« 

ends  at  the  popedom  of  Gregory.  The  other  commences  with 
the  papacy  of  Gregory,  and  continues  until  the  present  time. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  celibacy  prod;ices  contamination  and 
pollution.  The  very  effort  to  abstain  from  it  produces  a  aaorbid 
feeling  which  absorbs  the  thought,  and  inflames  the  passiosis. 
Hence  the  difference  in  the  appearance  of  priests  of  Rome  and 
ministers  of  Christ.  In  the  confessional,  in  the  convent,  and  in 
the  home,  a  priest  is  a  conspirator  against  virtue,  and  the  ally  of 
all  that  is  debasing.  Hence  priests  should  wed.  In  Milan,  Italy, 
the  battle  was  even  more  fierce  than  in  England.  Ambrose  led 
in  it.  He  was  respected  by  all,  and  loved  by  the  majority,  of 
priests  and  people.  The  priests,  as  a  rule,  stood  with  him,  and 
resisted  to  the  death  the  decree  commanding  them  to  break  up 
their  homes,  and  permit  their  wives  to  be  called  harlots  and  their 
children  bastards.  Because  of  this  fact,  the  clergy  of  that  famed 
portion  of  the  church  held  a  proud  place  in  the  regard  of  mankind. 

It  would  be  well  if  the  laity  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
would  turn  their  attention  to  that  page  of  history.  They  would 
behold  the  benefits  resulting  from  the  marriage  of  the  priesthood. 
The  men  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  owe  it  to  themselves, 
to  their  position  as  the  God-appointed  head  of  the  home,  to  see 
to  it  that  the  command,  "Let  no  one  come  between  husband  an(| 
v/ife,"  be  obeyed,  and  that  the  priest  who  has  crept  into  the  home, 
and  held  possession  of  the  secrets  of  the  household,  be  shut  out 
from  the  sanctuary  of  the  affections. 

Edgar,  in  his  "Variations  of  Popery,"  uncovers  the  dark  and 
the  dirty  side  of  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy.  He  says,  "The  celib- 
acy of  the  clergy  has  for  a  long  series  of  time  been  established  in 
the  Romish  communion.    The  bishop,  the  priest,  and  the  deacon 


148  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

are,  in  the  popish  theology,  forbid  to  marry.  This  connection  is 
indeed  allowed  to  the  laity.  The  institution  in  the  system  of 
Catholicism  is  accounted  a  sacrament,  and  therefore  the  sign  and 
means  of  grace  and  holiness.  The  Council  of  Trent,  in  its  twenty- 
fourth  session,  declares  this  ceremony  one  of  the  sacraments,  by 
which,  according  to  its  seventh  session,  all  real  righteousness  is 
begun  and  augmented."  But,  wonderful  to  tell,  the  Council,  as 
well  as  the  Catechism,  prescribes,  in  sheer  inconsistency,  a  renun- 
fUation  of  an  institution  which  conveys  true  sancity,  as  a  neces- 
•ary  qualification  for  the  priesthood. 

The  advocates  of  Romanism,  however,  vary  on  the  decision 
of  the  question  whether  this  celibacy  be  a  divine,  or  human,  or 
even  useful,  injunction.  One  party  in  the  popish  community  ac- 
count the  interdiction  a  divine  appointment.  These  make  the 
prohibition  a  matter  of  faith  and  moral  obligation,  which,  unlike 
a  question  of  mere  discipline,  neither  the  Pope  nor  the  universal 
Church  can  change  or  modify.  Commanded  by  God,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  His  almighty  fiat,  no  earthly  power  can  repeal  the  enact- 
ment, which,  according  to  this  system,  must  remain  forever  with- 
out alteration.  This  opinion  was  patronized  by  Jerome,  Siricius, 
Innocent,  and  others.  A  second  party  reckons  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  a  human  institution.  These  in  general  esteem  the  prohibi- 
tion a  question  not  of  faith,  but  of  discipline,  prescribed  not  by 
God,  but  by  man,  and  capable  of  being  altered,  or  even  repealed, 
by  human  authority.  Aquinas,  Bellarmine,  Bossuet,  Du  Pin,  Mil- 
ner,  and  others  supported  this  view. 

A  third  party  account  sacerdotal  celibacy  not  only  unecclesl- 
astical,  inhuman,  but  useless  and  hurtful.  The  opposition  to  the 
prohibition,  even  in  the  bosom  of  the  Romish  communion,  has 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  149 

in  every  age  been  persevering  and  powerful.  The  privation 
has  been  discountenanced  by  many  of  the  ablest  patrons 
of  Romanism,  such  as  Erasmus,  Polydorus,  Alvarus,  and  Pius. 
The  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  says  Pius  the  Second,  is  supported  by 
strong  reasons,  but  opposed  by  stronger.  The  edicts  of  Siricius 
and  Innocent,  by  which  the  privation  was  first  enforced,  were 
rejected  by  many  of  the  clergy.  Gregory's  tyranny  on  this  topic 
met  with  decided  hostility.  Many  chose  to  renounce  the  priest- 
hood rather  than  submit  to  pontifical  despotism,  violate  their  con- 
jugal engagements,  or  relinquish  the  object  of  their  affections. 

The  German  emperor  and  clergy  supplicated  Pius  IV.  for  a 
repeal  of  the  enactments  against  sacerdotal  matrimony,  and  sup- 
ported their  petition  with  the  most  irrefragable  arguments,  such 
as  the  novelty  of  privation,  and  its  dreadful  consequences  on 
morality. 

Augustine,  the  Bavarian  ambassador  at  Trent,  petitioned 
against  clerical  celibacy,  which  he  declared  was  not  of  divine  right 
as  commanded  by  God.  His  speech  on  the  occasion  met,  even  in 
the  Council  of  Trent,  with  attention  and  even  applause.  The 
FYench  king  and  clergy  at  Paissy  issued  a  similar  petition  to  the 
Pope  in  1 56 1,  saying,  "Many  of  the  popish  errors,  indeed,  may, 
in  theory,  be  absurd  as  clerical  celibacy.  But  none  in  practice  has 
been  attended  with  such  odious  and  appalling  effects  in  the  demor- 
alization of  man."  The  rankest  and  most  disgusting  debauchery, 
originating  in  the  unnatural  interdiction,  has,  in  the  Romish 
communion,  disgraced  sacerdotal  dignity,  and  stained  the  annals 
of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history. 

"The  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  in  all  its  forms,  is  a  variation 
from  the  Jewish  theocracy  delivered  in  the  Old  Testament.    The 


150  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  ^EEDS  OF.  ROMANISM. 

Jews  countenanced  neither  celibacy  nor  maidenhood,  and  the  Jew- 
ish nation  contained  neither  unmatrimonial  priests  nor  cloistered 
nuns.  The  patriarchs  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  were  married, 
and  had  a  numerous  offspring.  Prior  to  Moses,  the  first-born  of 
the  Hebrews  possessed  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  and 
was  prince  and  priest,  but  was  not  debarred  connubial  enjoyments. 
Moses,  the  celebrated  legislator  of  Israel,  was  married,  and  had 
a  family.  The  holy  prophets  of  Palestine,  such  as  Noah,  Joseph, 
Samuel,  David,  Isaiah,  and  Ezekiel,  formed  this  connection,  and 
became  the  parents  of  sons  and  daughters.  The  Levitical  priest- 
hood were  allowed  the  same  liberty.  Matrimony  among  the 
Israelitish  clergy  could  hardly  be  called  a  permission,  but  amount- 
ed in  one  sense  to  a  command.  The  priesthood  among  the  de- 
scendants of  Abraham  was  hereditary.  The  sons  of  the  Aaronical 
priests  succeeded,  in  consequence  of  their  birthright,  to  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacerdotal  functions."  This  implied  marriage 
and  children. 

The  Christian  dispensation  affords  express  precept  and  ex- 
ample for  the  marriage  of  the  clergy.  Paul,  addressing  Timothy 
and  Titus,  represents  the  bishop  as  "the  husband  of  one  wife." 
The  same  is  said  of  the  deacon.  Matrimony,  therefore,  according 
to  the  book  of  God,  does  not  disqualify  for  the  episcopacy  or  the 
deaconship.  The  inspired  penman  also  characterizes  "forbidding 
to  marry"  as  the  doctrine  of  devils.  The  interdiction  of  the  con- 
jugal union,  according  to  apostolical  authority,  emanated  not 
from  God,  but  from  Satan.  The  prohibition,  and  its  effects  upon 
the  Romish  clergy,  are  worthy  of  their  author.  All  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  manuals  of  sacerdotal  celibacy  reflect  with  disgust 
on  an  institution  which  in  its  progress  has  been  marked  with 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  PF.  ROMANISM,  151 


scenes  of  filthiness  that  have  disgraced  ecclesiastical  history, 
the  popish  priesthood,  and  our  common  species.  "Take  away 
honorable  wedlock,"  says  Bernard,  ''and  you  will  fill  the  Church 
with  fornication,  incest,  sodomy,  and  all  pollution."  Erasmus, 
who  was  well  acquainted  with  its  effects,  compared  it  to  a  pesti- 
lence. These  authors  have  drawn  the  evil  with  the  pencil  of 
truth,  and  emblazoned  the  canvas  with  a  picture  taken  from  life. 
The  apostles  have  left  examples  as  well  as  precepts  in  favor  of 
matrimony.  All  the  apostles,  says  Ambrosius,  except  Paul  and 
John,  were  married.  The  Saviour  healed  the  mother  of  Peter's 
wife,  the  pretended  vicegerent  of  heaven.  Tradition  favors  the 
marriage  of  the  clergy.  The  interdiction  of  sacerdotal  matrimony 
is  unknown  to  the  oldest  monuments  of  the  Church,  the  moulder- 
ing fragments  of  Christian  antiquity,  and  the  primeval  records 
of  ecclesiastical  history.  No  vestige  of  the  prohibition  is  to  be 
found  in  the  long  lapse  of  three  hundred  years  after  the  era  of 
redemption.  Clemens,  the  catechist  of  Alexandria,  says,  "God 
allows  every  man,  whether  priest,  deacon,  or  layman,  to  be  the 
husband  of  one  wife,  and  to  use  matrimony  without  reprehension. 
What  can  the  enemy  of  matrimony  say  against  procreation  when 
it  is  permitted  to  a  bishop,  who  ruleth  well  his  own  house,  and 
who  governs  the  church?" 

Origen  abstained  from  matrimony,  and  used  a  remedy  in  his 
own  person,  contrary  to  all  law  human  and  divine. 

"The  fifth  apostolical  canon  pronounces  excommunication, 
and,  in  case  of  contumacy,  deposition,  against  the  bishop,  priest, 
or  deacon,  who,  under  pretext  of  religion,  puts  away  his  wife." 

Because  of  the  march  of  superstition,  celibacy  obtained  in 
the  West,  though  always  rejected  in  Eastern  Christendom.    Cler- 


Btshop  Martlltom!,  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  who  is  reported  to  be 
worth  $3,000,000,  while  the  blind  and  ignorant  inhabitants  who  sup- 
port him  in  lordly  style  live  in  hovels  without  the  com- 
monest necessaries  of  life,  and  are  treated  by  this 
heartless  Bishop  with  no  more  consider- 
ation than  a  beast  of  burden. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  163 

ical  celibacy  is  the  child  not  of  religion  or  Christianity,  but  of 
superstition  and  policy.  Its  votaries  in  every  age  have,  by  an 
affected  singularity  and  ascetic  contempt  of  pleasure,  continued 
to  attract  the  eye  of  superstition,  deceive  themselves,  or  amuse  a 
silly  world.  Austerity  of  life,  and  abstinence  from  lawful  as  well 
as  unlawful  gratifications,  the  heathen  accounted  the  summit  of 
perfection.  The  Romans,  though  their  Pontifex  Maximus 
was  a  married  man,  had  their  vestal  virgins  who  possessed  extra- 
ordinary influence  and  immunity.  The  admiration  of  virginity 
began  at  an  early  period  in  Christianity.  The  reason  of  this  arose 
from  the  difficulty  of  abstinence.  Virginity,  Jerome  admits,  "is 
difficult,  and  therefore  rare." 

"The  monk  of  Palestine  was  a  living  example  of  this  difficul- 
ty. Sitting,  the  companion  of  scorpions,  in  a  frightful  solitude, 
parched  with  the  rays  of  the  sun,  clothed  in  sackcloth,  pale  with 
fasting,  and  quenching  his  thirst  only  from  the  cold  spring;  the 
saint,  in  his  own  confession,  wept  and  groaned  while  his  blood 
boiled  with  the  flames  of  licentiousness.  Bernard  prescribes  fast- 
ing as  a  necessary  remedy  for  the  wantonness  of  the  flesh  and  the 
inflammation  of  the  blood.  Chrysostom  makes  similar  conces- 
sions of  difficulty.  The  passion,  indeed,  which  prompts  the  mat- 
rimonial union,  being  necessary  for  the  continuation  of  the  spe- 
cies, has  by  the  Creator  been  deeply  planted  in  the  breast, 
and  forms  an  essential  part  of  the  constitution.  The  pro- 
hibition is  high  treason  against  the  laws  of  God,  and  open  rebel- 
lion against  the  springtide  of  human  nature,  and  the  full  flow  of 
human  affection.  An  attempt,  therefore,  to  stem  the  irresistible 
current,  must  ever  recoil  with  tremendous  effect  on  its  authors. 
But  the  affectation  of  singularity,  the  show  of  sanctity,  and  the 


154  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

profession  of  extraordinary  attainments,  which  outrage  the  sen- 
timents of  nature,  will,  like,  Phaeton's  attempt  to  drive  the  chariot 
of  the  sun,  attract  the  gaze  of  the  spectator,  gain  the  applause  of 
superstition,  and  figure  in  the  annals  of  the  world." 

"Jerome  and  Chrysostom  say  that  continency  may  always 
be  obtained  by  prayer.  Others,  to  counteract  the  movements  of 
the  flesh,  cased  the  body  in  steel,  put  on  sackcloth,  ran  to  the 
mountains,  spent  night  and  day  in  fasting,  vigils,  and  in  all  the 
rigor  of  severity.  Shunning  the  company  of  women,  the  whole 
sex  were  forbidden  access  to  their  solitary  retreat.  All  this  self- 
mortification,  however,  could  scarcely  allay  the  rebellion  of  their 
blood." 

The  difficulty  of  continence,  if  reports  may  be  credited,  was 
not  peculiar  to  Chrysostom's  day.  Succeeding  saints  felt  the 
arduousness  of  the  mighty  attempt. 

"The  seraphic  Francis,  the  father  of  Franciscans,  who  lived 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  though  devoted  to  chastity,  and  brimful 
of  the  spirit,  was,  it  seems,  sometimes  troubled  with  the  move- 
ments of  the  flesh.  An  enemy  that  wrought  within  was  difficult  to 
keep  in  subjection.  His  saintship,  on  these  occasions,  adopted  an 
effectual  way  of  cooling  this  internal  flame,  and  allaying  the  car- 
nal conflict.  He  stood  in  winter  to  the  neck  in  a  pit  full  of  icy 
water.  One  day,  being  attacked  in  an  extraordinary  manner  by 
the  demon  of  sensuality,  he  stripped  naked,  and  belabored  his  im- 
portunate back  with  a  disciplinarian  whip ;  and  then,  leaving  his 
cell,  he  buried  his  body,  naked  as  he  was,  in  a  deep  wreath  of 
snow.  The  cold  bath,  the  knotted  thong,  and  the  snowy  bed 
were  necessary  for  discharging  the  superabundant  caloric  of  his 
saintship's  constitution."  This  was  when  resistance  was  the 
rule.    Now  there  is  indulgence  and  prostitution. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  155 

"Godric,  an  English  hermit,  was  troubled  with  the  same 
complaint,  and  had  recourse  to  the  same  remedy.  He  was  a 
native  of  Norfolk,  had  visited  Jerusalem,  wept  over  the  sacred 
sepulchre,  and  kissed,  in  holy  devotion,  the  tomb  of  Emmanuel 
and  the  monument  of  redemption.  He  lived  on  the  banks  of  the 
Werus,  and  was  the  companion  of  the  bear  and  the  scorpion, 
which  were  gentle  and  obliging  to  the  man  of  God.  But  he  had 
to  contend,  even  in  his  solitude,  with  temptation.  Satan,  assum- 
ing the  form  of  a  lion  or  a  wolf,  endeavored  to  allure  him  from 
his  duty.  These  outward  trials,  however,  were  nothing  compared 
with  the  inward  conflicts  arising  from  the  ferment  of  concupis- 
cence and  'the  lusts  of  the  flesh.'  He  counteracted  the  rebellion  of 
his  blood,  however,  by  the  rigor  of  discipline.  The  cold  earth  was 
his  only  bed;  and  a  stone,  which  he  placed  under  his  head,  was 
his  nightly  pillow.  The  herb  of  the  field  and  the  water  of  the 
spring  were  his  meat  and  drink,  which  he  used  only  when  com- 
pelled by  the  assault  of  hunger  and  thirst.  Clothed  in  haircloth, 
he  spent  his  days  in  tears  and  fasting.  The  hermit,  with  these 
applications  in  keeping  the  body  under,  used  a  sufficiently  cooling 
regimen.  During  the  wintry  frost  and  snow,  he  immersed  him- 
self in  the  stream  of  Werus,  where,  pouring  forth  prayers  and 
tears,  he  offered  himself  a  living  victim  to  God.  The  flesh,  it 
is  likely,  after  this  nightly  dip,  was  discharged  of  all  unnecessary 
heat,  and  became  duly  cool.  But  the  devil,  it  seems,  played  some 
pranks  on  the  hermit,  while  he  was  enjoying  the  cold  bath,  and 
freezing  his  body  for  the  good  of  his  soul.  Satan  sometimes  ran 
away  with  Godric's  clothes,  which  were  on  the  banks.  But  God- 
ric terrified  Beelzebub  with  shouts,  so  that,  affrighted,  he  dropped 
his  haircloth  garment  and  fled." 


156  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Ulric's  history  is  of  a  similar  kind.  He  was  born  near  Bris- 
tol, and  fought  th^  enemies  of  the  human  race  for  twenty  years. 
He  was  visited,  notwithstanding,  with  the  demon  of  licentious- 
ness. He  fought  the  demon  by  the  cold  bath,  and  fasted  till  his 
skin  was  the  only  remaining  covering  of  his  bones.  He  nightly 
descended  into  a  vessel  filled  with  freezing  water,  and  during  the 
hours  of  darkness  continued,  in  this  comfortable  place,  which 
constituted  his  headquarters,  to  sing  the  Psalms  of  David. 

"Thomas  Aquinas,  the  Angelic  Doctor,  required  angelic  aid 
to  counteract  the  natural  disposition  of  the  mind,  or  rather  of  the 
flesh.  He  was  born  of  a  noble  family,  and  enjoyed  the  benefit  of 
a  Parisian  education.  His  friends  opposed,  but  in  vain,  his  reso- 
lution of  immuring  himself  in  the  retreats  of  monkery.  He  re- 
sisted their  attempts  with  signal  success,  though  it  seems  not 
always  with  spiritual  weapons.  He  diased  one  woman,  who 
opposed  his  resolution,  with  a  firebrand.  The  blessed  youth/ 
says  -the  Roman  Breviary,  'praying  on  bended  knees  before  the 
cross,  was  seized  with  sleep,  and  seemed,  through  a  dream,  to 
undergo  a  constriction  of  a  certain  part  by  angels,  and  lost  from 
that  time  forward  all  sense  of  concupiscence.'  His  angelic  saint- 
ship's  natural  propensity  required  supernatural  power  to  restrain 
its  fury.  The  grasp  of  angels  was  necessary  to  allay  his  carnality, 
and  confer  continence. 

"Benedict,  in  his  neceseity,  had  recourse  to  a  pointed  rem- 
edy. This  saint,  like  Aquinas,  was  born  of  a  noble  family.  He 
was  educated  at  Rome,  and  devoted  himself  wholly  to  religion  or 
rather  to  superstition.  He  lived  three  years  in  a  deep  cave,  and 
in  his  retreat  wrought  many  miracles.  'He  knocked  the  devil  out 
of  one  monk  with  a  blow  of  his  fist,  and  out  of  another  with  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  157 

lash  of  his  whip.'  But  Satan,  actuated  by  malice,  and  envious  of 
human  happiness,  appeared  to  Benedict  in  the  form  of  a  black 
bird,  and  renewed  in  his  heart  the  image  of  a  woman  whom  he 
had  seen  in  Rome.  The  devil  in  this  matter  rekindled  the  torch 
of  passion,  and  excited  such  a  conflagration  in  the  flesh,  that  the 
saint  nearly  yielded  to  the  temptation.  But  he  soon,  according  to 
Mabillon,  discovered  a  remedy.  Having  undressed  himself,  he 
rolled  his  naked  body  on  nettles  and  thorns,  till  the  lacerated  car- 
cass through  pain  lost  all  sense  of  pleasure.  The  father  of  the 
Benedictines,  it  appears,  had  his  own  difficulty  in  attempting  to 
allay  the  ferment  of  the  flesh." 

"An  Irish  priest  actuated  by  a  carnal  propensity  had  recourse 
to  a  different  remedy.  The  holy  man  lived  near  St.  Patrick's 
purgatory  in  Ireland,  and  spent  his  days  in  official  duty  and  in 
works  of  charity.  Rising  early  each  morning,  he  walked  round 
the  adjoining  cemetery,  and  preferred  his  orisons  for  those  whose 
mortal  remains  there  mouldered  in  the  clay,  and  mingled  with 
their  kindred  dust.  His  devotion  did  not  place  him  beyond  the 
reach  of  temptation.  Satan,  envying  his  happiness,  and  hating 
his  sanctity,  tempted  the  priest  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful  girl. 
He  was  near  yielding  to  the  allurement.  He  led  the  tempter  into 
his  bed-chamber;  when,  recollecting  himself,  he  resolved  to  pre- 
vent the  sinful  gratification  for  the  present  and  in  futurity.  He 
seized  a  scalpellum,  and  adopting,  like  Origen,  the  remedy  of 
amputation,  he  incapacitated  himself  for  such  sensuality  in  time 
to  come.  Adhelm,  bishop  of  Sherburn,  had  two  ways  of  sub- 
duing the  insurrections  of  the  flesh.  One  consisted  in  remaining, 
during  the  winter,  in  a  river  which  ran  past  his  monastery.  He 
continued  for  nights  immersed  in  this  stream,  regardless  of  the 


.  158  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

icy  cold.  The  frosty  bath  stopped  the  ebullition  of  his  rebellious 
blood.  The  other  remedy  seems  to  have  been  rather  a  dangerous 
experiment.  When  the  pulse  began  to  beat  high,  his  saintship 
called  for  a  fair  virgin,  who  lay  in  his  bed  until  he  sung  the  whole 
order  of  the  Psalms,  and  overcame  by  this  means  the  paroxysm  of 
passion.  The  sacred  music  and  this  beautiful  maid,  who  notwith- 
standing her  virginity  was  very  accommodating,  soothed  the  irri- 
tation of  the  flesh,  and  castigated  the  oscillations  of  the  pulse, 
till  it  beat  with  philosophical  precision  and  Christian  regularity." 

A  second  reason  for  the  preference  of  virginity  arose  from 
the  supposed  pollution  of  matrimony.  Some  have  represented 
marriage  as  a  means  of  purity,  and  some  of  pollution.  Clemens, 
Augustine,  Chrysostom,  Calmet,  and  others  speak  of  matrimony 
as  an  institution  of  holiness,  sanctity,  honor,  and  utility.  The 
Council  of  Gangra  anathematized  all  who  should  reproach  wed- 
lock, and  this  sentence  has  been  incorporated  into  the  canon  law. 
Others  have  represented  the  popish  sacrament,  especially  in  the 
clergy,  as  an  appointment  of  pollution  and  degradation. 

Origen  reckoned  conjugal  intercourse  inconsistent  with  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Jerome,  if  possible,  surpassed  Ori- 
gen in  bitterness.  Marriage,  according  to  this  casuist,  effeminates 
the  manly  mind.  "A  man,  says  the  monk,  cannot  pray  unless  he 
refrain  from  conjugal  enjoyments." 

"These  theologians  on  this  topic  entertained  the  grossest 
conceptions.  Their  own  filthy  ideas  rose  no  higher  than  the 
gratification  of  the  mere  animal  passion,  unconnected  with  refine- 
ment or  delicacy.  Their  views  on  this  subject  were  detached  from 
all  the  comminglings  of  the  understanding  and  the  heart,  and 
from  all  endearments  of  father,  mother,  and  child.    Their  minds 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  159 

turned  only  on  scenes  of  gross  sensuality,  unallied  to  any  moral 
or  sentimental  feeling,  and  insulated  from  all  the  reciprocations  of 
friendship  or  affection.  Celibacy  and  virginity  which  were  unas- 
sociated  with  their  carnal  gratifications,  and  which  affected  a 
superiority  to  their  allurements,  became,  with  persons  of  this 
disposition,  the  objects  of  admiration.' 

"Matrimony,  however,  though  it  were  gross  as  the  concep- 
tions of  these  authors,  is  far  purer  than  their  language.  The 
sentiments  and  phraseology  of  the  Roman  saints  on  virginity  are 
in  point  of  obscenity  beyond  all  competition."  "These  saints 
must  have  had  a  practical  acquaintance  with  the  subject,  to  which 
they  have  done  so  much  justice  in  description.  Speculation,  with- 
out practice,  would  never  have  made  them  such  adepts.  Their 
sanctified  contamination  is  so  perfect  in  its  kind,  that  it  could  not 
be  the  offspring  of  mere  theory  without  action."  This  chargf 
against  their  saintships  may  be  substantiated  by  many  quotation! 
from  their  works,  which,  however,  for  the  sake  of  decency  is  left 
in  the  obscurity  of  the  original  Greek  and  Latin,  where  it  may 
stay.  "The  diction  as  well  as  the  ideas  of  Chrysostom,  Jerome, 
Augustine,  and  Basil,  would  call  the  burning  blush  of  shame  into 
the  cheek  of  a  Juvenal,  a  Horace,  or  an  Ovid." 

"Dens  in  modern  times  has  outrun  Basil  and  all  the  saints 
of  antiquity  on  the  stadium  of  nastiness.  His  Theology,  in  which 
contamination  lives  and  breathes,  is  a  treasury  of  filthiness  which 
can  never  be  surpassed.  He  has  shown  an  unrivalled  genius  for 
impurity;  and  future  discovery  can,  in  this  department  of  learn- 
ing, never  eclipse  his  glory,  nor  deprive  this  precious  divine  of  his 
well-earned  fame  and  merited  immortality.  The  philosophy  of 
Newton  has  been  improved.    His  astronomy,  notwithstanding  its 


160  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 

grandeur,  has  received  many  accessions  from  other  discoverers. 
But  the  sublimated  obscenity  of  Dens,  finished  in  its  kind,  admits 
of  no  advancement  or  progression.  This  doctor  does  not  bear  his 
bkishing  honors  alone.  The  popish  prelacy  of  America,  by  adopt- 
ing his  refined  speculations  to  promote  the  education  of  the  priest- 
hood, share  in  his  triumphs;  and  the  inferior  clergy,  who  are 
doomed  to  study  his  divinity,  will  no  doubt  manifest  the  value 
of  his  system  by  the  superiority  of  their  theological  and  holy 
attainments." 

"A  third  reason  for  the  injunction  of  sacerdotal  celibacy 
arose  from  the  pontifical  policy.  Cardinal  Rodolf,  arguing  in  a 
Roman  consistory  in  favor  of  clerical  celibacy,  affirmed  that  the 
priesthood,  if  allowed  to  marry,  would  transfer  their  attachment 
from  the  Pope  to  their  family  and  prince;  and  this  would  tend  to 
the  injury  of  the  ecclesiastical  community.  The  holy  see,  the 
cardinal  alleged,  would  by  this  means  be  soon  limited  to  the  Ro- 
man city.  The  Transalpine  party  in  the  Council  of  Trent  used  the 
same  argument.  The  introduction  of  priestly  matrimony,  this 
faction  urged,  would  sever  the  clergy  from  their  close  dependence 
CMi  the  popedom,  and  turn  their  affections  to  their  family,  and 
consequently  to  their  king  and  country.  Marriage  connects  men 
with  their  sovereign  and  with  the  land  of  their  nativity.  Celibacy, 
on  the  contrary,  transfers  the  attention  of  the  clergy  from  his 
Majesty  and  the  state,  to  his  Holiness  and  the  Church.  The  man 
who  has  a  wife  and  chidlren  is  bound  by  conjugal  and  paternal 
attachment  to  his  country,  and  feels  the  warmest  glow  of  parental 
love,  mingled  with  the  flame  of  patriotism.  His  interests  and 
affections  are  intwined  with  the  honor  and  prosperity  of  his  na- 
tive land ;  and  this,  in  consequence,  he  will  prefer  to  the  aggran- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  161 

dizement  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  or  the  grandeur  of  the  Roman 
pontiff.  The  dearest  objects  of  his  heart  are  embraced  in  the  soil 
that  gave  them  birth,  the  people  among  whom  they  live,  and  the 
government  that  affords  them  protection." 

"Celibacy,  on  the  contrary,  precludes  all  these  engagements, 
and  directs  the  undivided  affection  of  the  priesthood  to  the  Church 
and  its  occlesiastical  sovereign.  The  clergy  become  dependent  on 
the  Pope  rather  than  on  their  ruler,  and  endeavor  to  promote  the 
prosperity  of  the  papacy  rather  than  their  country.  Such  are  not 
linked  with  the  state  by  an  offspring  whose  happiness  is  involved 
in  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  Gregory  VII.,  accordingly,  the 
great  enemy  of  kings,  was  the  distinguished  patron  of  sacerdotal 
celibacy.  He  succeeded,  to  a  great  extent,  in  the  suppression  of 
priestly  marriages.  He  summoned  a  council,  and  issued  canons, 
separating  the  married  clergy  from  their  partners,  and  forbidding 
the  ordination  of  any  who  would  not  vow  perpetual  continence. 
He  prohibited  the  laity  from  hearing  mass  when  celebrated  by 
a  married  priest.  These  enactments  he  enforced  with  his  usual 
obstinancy  and  with  his  usual  success.  The  laity  seconded  his 
efforts,  and  refused  the  communion  and  baptism  from  the  mar- 
ried clergy." 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  celibacy  as  recorded  by  dif- 
ferent ecclesiastical  historians.  Celibacy  is  the  Devil's  own,  and 
will  hold  its  place  Until  he  is  beaten  and  broken  by  the  power  of 
God.  The  effect  on  the  clergy  was  terrible.  The  law  ran  counter 
to  the  tide  of  human  nature  and  to  the  stream  of  human  affection. 
The  clergy,  in  many  instances,  resisted  the  mandate;  and  the 
exaction  of  obedience  became  a  difficult  task.  A  variety  of  glans 
ai) 


1^2  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

were  invented  to  evade  or  violate  its  severity.  One  variety  tooK 
the  name  of  domesticism. 

"This  consisted  in  keeping  female  inmates  in  the  dwellings 
of  the  priests.  These  were  women  devoted  in  profession,  though 
not  by  vow,  to  virginity.  Their  ostensible  duty  was  to  superin- 
tend the  domestic  concerns  of  the  house.  The  clergy  enjoyed 
their  society,  while  these  maidens  in  return  shared  the  clergy's 
bed  and  board.  Forbidden  to  marry,  they  converted  their  homes 
into  brothels.  Cyprian,  Jerome,  and  Chrysostom  depicted  the  co- 
habitation of  these  holy  domestics  with  a  bold  but  faithful  pencil. 
Cyprian  mentions  in  language  of  strong  condemnation  their  do- 
mestic familiarity  by  day,  and  their  occupation  of  the  same  bed  at 
night.  The  adultery  and  fornication  of  the  clergy  degenerated, 
in  many  instances,  into  incest  and  other  abominations  of  the 
grossest  kind.  Some  priests,  according  to  the  Council  of  Mentz 
in  888,  had  'sons  by  their  own  sisters.'  The  Council  of  Nicaea  and 
some  other  of  a  later  date,  through  fear  of  scandal,  deprived  the 
clergy  of  all  female  company,  except  a  mother,  a  sister,  or  an  aunt. 
It  did  no  good.  The  means  intended  for  prevention  were  the  oc- 
casion of  more  accumulated  scandal  and  more  heinous  criminality. 
The  interdiction  was  the  introduction  to  incestuous  and  unnatural 
prostitution." 

Is  there  a  reason  to  suppose  that  this  state  of  things  does  not 
now  exist?  Recently,  at  a  dinner  given  after  the  funeral  of  a 
priest  had  been  attended,  some  one  hundred  priests  were  present. 
The  caterer  was  a  Baptist.  He  said  that  after  the  wine  began  to 
flow,  their  conversation  became  so  filthy  that  the  waiting-girls 
were  shocked;  and  the  brutes  revelled  in  tales  of  what  they  en- 
joyed with  the  domestics  in  their  homes,  offering  to  share  their 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  /.63 


pleasures,  like  brute  beasts,  with  their  fellows ;  and  this  in  Amer- 
ica, the  land  of  the  free. 

Concubinage  was  another  mode  of  evading  the  canons.  This 
was  a  natural  result  of  the  unnatural  regulations  against  wedlock. 
The  accounts  on  this  subject,  transmitted  by  the  historians  of  these 
times,  are  appalling.  Profligacy  prevailed  among  the  clergy,  who 
practiced  all  kinds  of  lewdness.  Atto  declares  that  the  clergy 
Kept  filthy  harlots  in  their  houses.  These,  in  a  public  manner, 
bedded  and  boarded  with  their  consecrated  paramours.  Fasci- 
nated with  their  wanton  allurements,  the  abandoned  clergy  con- 
ferred on  the  partners  of  their  guilt  the  superintendence  of  their 
family  and  all  their  domestic  concerns.  These  courtesans,  during 
the  lives  of  their  companions  in  iniquity,  managed  their  house- 
holds; and  at  their  death  inherited  their  property.  The  hirelings 
of  pollution  were  adorned,  the  Church  wasted,  and  the  poor  op- 
pressed, by  men  who  professed  to  be  the  patrons  of  purity, 
the  guardians  of  truth,  and  the  protectors  of  the  wretched  and 
the  needy.  Damian  represents  the  guilty  mistress  confess- 
ing to  the  guilty  priest.  This  presented  another  absurdity,  and 
an  aggravation  of  the  crime.  The  formality  of  confessing  what 
the  father  confessor  knew,  and  receiving  forgiveness  from  a  part- 
ner in  sin,  was  an  insult  to  common-sense,  and  presented  one  of 
the  many  ridiculous  scenes  which  have  been  exhibited  on  the 
theatre  of  the  world.  Confession  and  absolution  in  this  way  were 
after  all,  very  convenient.  The  fair  penitent  had  not  far  to  go  for 
pardon,  nor  for  an  opportunity  of  repeating  the  fault  which  might 
qualify  her  for  another  course  of  confession  and  remission.  Her 
spiritual  father  could  spare  her  blushes,  and  his  memory  could 
supply  any  deficiency  of  recollection  in  the  enumeration  of  her 


164  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

sins.  A  minute  recapitulation  of  time,  place,  and  other  circum- 
stantial trifles,  would  be  unnecessary.  The  rehearsal  of  the  deli- 
cious sin  might,  to  both,  be  very  amusing.  The  sacrament  of  con- 
fession, in  this  manner,  would  be  recalling  the  transaction  to 
mind,  become  very  edifying,  and  afford  a  renewal  of  this  enjoy- 
ment. The  confessor,  in  the  penance  which  are  prescribed  on 
these  occasions,  exemplified  the  virtues  of  compassion  and  char- 
ity. Christian  commiseration  and  sympathy  took  the  place  of 
rigor  and  strictness.  The  holy  father,  indeed,  could  not  be  severe 
on  so  dear  a  friend;  and  the  lady  could  not  refuse  to  be  kind 
again  to  such  an  indulgent  father." 

This  language,  so  descriptive  of  what  is  horrid,  and  yet  so 
insensible  to  the  sin  and  wickedness  of  the  transactions  chronicled, 
proves  the  hopelessness  of  the  attempt  to  reform  Romanism.  In 
the  estimation  of  the  writers  it  is  little  more  than  a  caricature  of 
Christianity,  at  variance  with  morality,  destructive  of  piety,  a 
sink  of  iniquity,  a  barrier  to  progress,  and  the  foe  of  all  that  is 
elevating  and  ennobling  in  literature,  in  art,  or  religion. 

"A  third  variety  for  the  evasion  of  the  canonical  interdiction 
was  clandestine  or  avowed  matrimony.  Some  of  the  priests, 
though  they  could  ill  afford  it,  wished  to  keep  a  conscience.  These, 
of  course,  would  shudder  at  the  commission  of  fornication  or 
adultery,  and  had  recourse,  therefore,  to  the  honorable  institution 
of  heaven  for  the  prevention  of  such  pollution.  These,  intrenched 
behind  the  authority  of  God,  withstood  the  commandments  of 
men.  The  number  of  these  continued  to  increase,  in  opposition 
to  the  decretals  of  the  popes,  the  canons  of  councils,  and  the  pre- 
possessions of  the  people." 

Such  was  the  state  of  clerical  matrimony  at  the  accession  of 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  165 

Hildebrand  to  the  popedom  in  1073.  He  determined  to  destroy 
clerical  marriage,  let  come  what  might  to  morality,  to  virtue,  to 
domestic  happiness.  The  fight  was  very  bitter  while  it  lasted.  Its 
influence  is  still  felt. 

At  this  point  a  fact  might  be  stated  which  throws  light  upon 
the  possibilities  within  reach  of  Romanists.  A  married  priest  is 
living  in  this  country,  identified  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
His  name  is  Rev.  John  Wolanski,  a  Ruthenian  or  Greek  of  Little 
Russia;  a  Maronite,  admitted  to  the  Romish  communion  by  the 
bull  of  Pope  Benedict  XIV.  in  174 1.  So  it  comes  to  pass,  that 
even  the  popes  recognize  a  married  clergy,  and  Greek  rites,  and 
the  service  in  vulgar  tongues,  as  quite  consistent  with  the  unity  of 
the  Roman  Communion. 

"Why,  then,"  asks  Bishop  A.  Cleveland  Coxe,  in  his  article 
on  "The  Model  Roman  Catholics,"  "why,  then,  do  the  bolder 
spirits  in  America,  who  are  attached  to  the  Papacy,  but  who  also 
wish  to  be  Americans,  fail  to  see  their  opportunity?  If  Edward 
McGlynn,  D.D.,  would  leave  his  land  theories  to  laymen,  and  de- 
vote his  abilities  and  energies  to  exacting  of  the  Roman  court  in 
behalf  of  Roman  Cathohcs  here,  what  the  Pope  concedes  to  them 
in  Lithuania,  he  would  perform  a  work  worthy  of  a  lifetime,  and 
would  be  entirely  consistent  with  his  professions  as  a  priest.  He 
would  emancipate  hundreds  of  his  brethren,  and  would  entitle 
himself  to  the  everlasting  gratitude  of  those  who,  like  him,  adhere 
to  the  Papacy,  but  are  equally  determined  to  be  true  Americans. 
He  would  soon  find,  as  did  the  Maronites,  that  the  court  of  Rome, 
with  all  its  'great  swelling  words,'  will  exhibit  only  abject  submis- 
sion and  servility  when  once  boldly  confronted  by  those  who  know 
their  rights,  and  dare  to  maintain  them.    Among  those  rights,  he 


166  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  0£  ROMANISM. 

ought  to  Icnow,  that,  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers,  it  was  a 
sacred  principle  that  not  even  ecclesiastics  should  be  summoned 
out  of  their  own  country  to  answer  for  alleged  offences,  even  those 
strictly  religious  and  not  political.  And  all  Americans  ought  to 
know,  that,  in  order  to  make  the  court  of  Rome  omnipotent 
among  its  subjects  here,  the  whole  body  of  Americans  who  profess 
the  Trent  faith,  as  well  laity  as  ecclesiastics,  are  denied  the  posi- 
tion of  a  national  Church,  having  rights  under  the  canon  law,  and 
are  held  as  mere  missions,  under  the  untempered  despotism  of  a 
foreign  principality,  administered,  in  the  case  of  the  parish  priests, 
with  a  degree  of  severity  and  cruelty  which  they  keenly  feel,  but 
dare  not  resent." 

"The  spirit  of  Rome  is  seen  in  the  fight  wagered  with  Wolan- 
ski.  When  he  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  he  called  at  the  cathedral, 
then  in  charge  of  Vicar-General  Walsh,  with  whom  he  had  an  in- 
terview. This  interview  was  abruptly  broken  off  when  the  Vicar 
learned  that  his  priestly  visitor  was  a  married  man,  and  had  his 
wife  with  him.  In  Shenandoah  he  received  much  the  same  sort 
of  reception  from  the  priests.  Alas,  how  little  they  care  for  the 
Scriptures !  Cardinal  Antonelli,  if  he  did  not  have  a  wife,  has  a 
daughter  now  connected  with  a  scandal.  He  was  for  years  the 
bosom  friend  of  Pio  Nono.  His  better  half  was  not  a  wife;  and 
that  entitled  him  to  daily  fellowship  with  the  Pope,  and  to  give 
new  dogmas  in  his  name  to  the  universe."  It  is  so  here.  Father 
Wolanski  might  have  had  a  woman  not  his  wife,  and  been  wel- 
comed to  the  cathedral  palace.  Obey  God,  and  Rome  shuts  the 
door  in  your  face.  Disobey  God,  and  the  door  stands  wide  open 
for  promotion. 

Cardinal  Gibbons  and  other  prelates  are  invited  to  consider 


NINETEENTH.  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM.  167 

how  the  Papal  bull  of  1741  conflicts  with  the  practices  of  the 
Church  at  this  hour.  Where  is  the  unity,  then  ?  Let  Roman  eccle- 
siastics demand  the  same  proprieties  of  life  to  be  conceded  to  them 
as  Americans  which  are  guaranteed  to  these  Russians  and  Hun- 
garians. If  not,  by  what  rule  of  consistency  is  the  right  refused  ? 
Rev.  E.  H.  Walsh,  once  a  Trappist  monk  in  the  monastery  of 
Bardstown,  Ky.,  says: 

"I  have  been  as  thrilled  and  electrified  by  the  revelations  of 
Protestant  literature  as  any  one  in  the  land.  Frequently, 
in  the  past,  I  have  thought  within  myself,  in  regard  to  these  vile 
priestly  doings,  'Are  they  going  to  be  covered  forever,  because, 
for  some  reason  or  other,  men  will  not  dare  expose  the  perfidy  and 
criminality  of  ecclesiastics  who  are  in  high  places,  and  are  un- 
scrupulous in  the  means  employed  to  defeat  the  ends  of  those  they 
hate  ?  I  am  thankful  to  God  that  there  is  somebody  who  posesses 
the  courage  to  tell  the  world  what  is  being  done  in  these  sinks  of 
iniquity,  under  the  cloak  of  religion,  and  in  the  name  of  Christ. 
In  the  City  of  Boston  are  men  who  violate  their  solemn  vows  with 
impunity.  I  have  been  in  pastors'  houses  where  the  curates  pro- 
tested against  their  having  women  in  their  private  parlors  at  the 
most  unseasonable  hours;  and  I  have  known  priests  to  spend 
Sundays  card  playing  and  drinking,  in  the  company  of  young 
women,  who  varied  the  monotony,  by  way  of  penance  imposed 
by  some  holy  father  on  his  confreres,  with  a  period  of  osculation, 
which  was  passed  around  the  circle.  My  own  family,  when  I  re- 
turned from  Kentucky  to  this  city — not  knowing  that  I  was  dis- 
affected— flung  in  my  face  the  profligate  lives  of  priests  who 
visited  hotels  in  their  control,  in  company  with  young  girls  whom 
they  introduced  as  their  sisters,  and  run  up  large  bills  for  turkey 


168  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

suppers  and  champagne,  remaining  until  the  small  hours  of  the 
morning. 

"And  when  they  reasoned  with  me  afterwards  in  New  York 
to  induce  me  to  come  back  again  to  the  fold  of  Rome,  I  said,  *Do 
you  want  me  to  confess  my  sins  to  such  men  as  those  who  spent 
nights  in  your  hotel  in  the  society  of  harlots  ?    Would  you  have 

me  even  associate  with  such  men  as  Father ,  who  has  had  the 

unblushing  boldness  to  have  females  in  his  house  (under  the  very 
eye  of  his  curates)  whose  characters  were  of  the  most  question- 
able sort  ?  Tell  me  a  single  priest  of  your  acquaintance  into  whose 
charge  I  would  commit  my  soul :  those  who  have  been  drunk  in 
your  office  and  house,  and  of  whom  such  unsavory  things  are  re- 
ported?' Alongside  of  our  monastery  was  an  institution  which 
one  of  our  monks  fiercely  denounced  on  one  occasion  to  a  visiting 
prelate  as  a  'devilish  place'  that  ought  to  be  torn  down;  and  when 
the  immorality  of  the  inmates  became  a  settled  fact,  these  saintly 
prostitutes  who  lived  in  the  closest  intimacy  with  the  Trappist 
celibates  (the  Rt.  Rev.  father  in  God,  the  abbot,  being  the  princi- 
pal and  most  conspicuous  actor  in  this  vile  drama)  were  turned 
adrift,  which  resulted  in  drawing  from  the  coffers  of  the  monks 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  hush  money.  The  superioress  of  this  so- 
called  nunnery  was  the  wife  of  a  man  who  was  in  the  Kentucky 
Penitentiary,  and  the  girls  were  largely  off  the  public  streets  of 
Louisville.  Who  will  ever  tell  the  fiendish  transactions  of  that 
place,  by  these  monsters  of  iniquity,  the  many  innocent  lives  that 
Vv^ere  taken  to  hide  the  sin  of  celibates,  and  cover  the  shame  of 
women,  who,  under  the  hideous  mask  of  piety  and  chastity,  com- 
mitted the  foulest  sins,  and  degraded  utterly  their  womanhood? 
Many  things  came  out  in  the  conflict  between  abbot  and  bishog 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM.  169 

that  Romanists  wished  had  never  seen  the  Hght  of  day.  The 
bishop  was  accused  of  wrong-doing  In  the  same  Hne  that  the 
abbot  and  some  of  the  monks  were  exposed  for,  and  crimination 
and  recrimination  between  priest  and  monk  seemed  to  be  the  order 
of  the  day ;  for  when  rogues  and  hypocrites  fell  out,  the  truth  was 
uncovered,  and  facts  that  filled  the  Papists  with  horror  were  as 
numerous  as  stars  of  a  wintry  night." 

"It  is  a  fact,  that  some  of  the  best  priests  that  ever  officiated 
at  Romish  altars  were  known  to  have  their  own  wives  and  chil- 
dren, though  on  the  sly;  and  it  is  also  a  fact  that  the  most  profli- 
gate and  vile  among  them  are  the  loudest  in  their  hypocritical 
professions  of  chastity  and  celibacy." 

The  St.  Louis  Republican,  of  June  20,  1887,  printed  a  letter 
from  Bishop  Hogan,  of  the  Catholic  diocese  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo., 
which  was  brought  in  court,  and  was  never  intended  for  publica- 
tion, but  it  reveals  a  sad  state  of  affairs. 

The  bishop  appointed  a  German  priest  over  an  Irish  congre- 
gation. This  gave  so  great  an  offence  to  some  parties,  that  the 
letter  in  question  was  written  in  self-defence.  His  defence  is,  that 
the  priests  of  his  diocese  were  such  a  drunken  lot  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  supply  the  parish  as  he  did.  He  then  gives  a  list  by  name 
of  twenty -two  priests,  that  were  received  into  the  diocese  from 
1869  to  1876,  whom  he  was  compelled  to  dismiss  on  account  of 
immorality,  especially  drunkenness.  [See  full  copy  of  letter  in 
previous  chapter  of  this  book.]  Some  of  them  are  described 
as  "constantly  drunk;"  one  is  "now  going  round  jFrom  city  to 
city  a  drunken  wreck."  So  disgraceful  was  the  state  of  affairs, 
that  he  was  compelled  at  last  to  "turn  over  a  new  leaf."    He  says : 

"The  constant,  shameful,  public,  and  sacrilegious  'drunken- 


170  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


ness  of  the  three  last  mentioned  priests,  who  were  by  my  side  at 
the  cathedral,  determined  me  to  wipe  them  and  their  kind  out  of 
my  jurisdiction.  Herbert,  after  repeated  drunkenness,  went  into 
a  spree  for  a  week  in  my  house;  was  in  the  house,  broke  out  at 
night,  got  into  a  house  of  disreputable  women  in  his  drunkenness, 
and  was  thrown  out  into  the  street,  picked  up  drunk,  recognized, 
and  taken  into  a  house  and  made  sober,  and  put  into  a  carriage 
and  taken  to  my  house.  That  evening,  Galvin  and  Kiley  were 
told  by  me  to  prepare  for  the  proper  celebration  of  the  feast  of  the 
patronage  of  St.  Joseph  for  Easter  Sunday.  On  Saturday  night 
they  staid  up  all  night,  drinking,  carousing,  and  shouting.  Kiley 
fell  down,  blackened  and  almost  broke  his  face  in  falling.  Of 
course,  the  two  sacrilegious  priests  said  mass  the  next  day,  and 
Kiley  went  into  the  pulpit,  and  preached,  with  his  blackened  and 
bruised  face,  to  the  people  of  the  cathedral.  This  was  on  the  feast 
of  the  patron  of  the  diocese,  and  of  the  universal  church.  It  was 
time  for  me  to  begin  a  reformation." 

The  bishop  began  to  purge  his  diocese,  and,  of  course,  met 
with  resistance  from  the  drunken  priests  and  their  friends.  But 
what  a  revelation  of  the  secrets  of  a  diocese  this  is ! 

Let  every  American  insist  upon  a  married  priesthood,  and 
for  a  pure  Christian  home  rule.  Let  the  husband  become  the  head 
of  the  home,  with  no  shadow  of  a  priest  coming  between  him  and 
his  household,  and  the  cloud  that  darkens  the  path  of  Romanists 
will  be  chased  away,  and  millions  will  find  their  way  back  to 
the  halcyon  days  of  Ambrose,  before  the  shadow  of  the  iron  scep- 
tre of  Hildebrand  darkened  the  world.  Then  confidence  shall  take 
the  place  of  suspicion,  and  the  priesthood  of  the  Romish  Church 
shall  join  with  the  ministry  of  evangelical  denominations  in  seek- 
ing an  ennobling  civilization  for  the  land  we  love,  and  the  God  we 
serve. 


Chapter  XL 

To  Hide  His  Shame  His  Ciiild  Suffers. 


As  long  as  Cuba's  soil  is  inhabited  by  Cubans  the  awful 
deeds  of  Priest  Tamaro  will  ring  in  the  ears  of  fond  mothers. 
This  priest  was  never  married,  and  at 'the  same  time  it  is  known 
that  he  was  the  father  of  twenty-three  children,  and  still  he  was 
recognized  by  the  Romish  Church  as  a  fit  person  to  look  after 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  human  race. 

Shortly  after  the  American  forces  had  triumphantly  entered 
Cuba  it  was  learned  that  Priest  Tamaro  had  been  and  was  still 
one  of  the  m.ost  active  priests  in  the  Island  in  throwing  impedi- 
ments in  the  American's  way  in  adjusting  the  Island  to  American 
methods,  and  in  this  way  had  particularly  attracted  the  attention 
of  American  officers.  God  bless  Americans,  they  are  all  naturally 
Protestants,  so  these  officers  took  a  special  delight  in  investigating 
this  priest's  record,  and  one  evening  after  dark  sent  word  to  Ta- 
maro that  unless  he  surrendered  to  them  and  ceased  his  meddling 
that  they  would  deal  with  him  in  a  manner  that  would  forever  im- 
press his  mind  with  American  earnestness.    Nothing  more  was 


iU         NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

heard  of  this  priest  in  any  way,  and  just  seventeen  days  from 
that  date,  these  officers  visited  this  priest's  residence,  and  imagine 
their  surprise  to  find  it  in  ashes  with  a  number  of  human  bones 
scattered  among  the  ruins.  This  aroused  their  curiosity  and  a 
search  was  instigated,  and  in  a  cave  a  few  yards  from  where  his 
residence  had  been  situated,  they  found  his  daughter,  a  child  of 
about  nine  years  of  age,  who  had  been  fastened  in  without  food 
and  but  Httle  water,  and  was  so  wasted  in  flesh  that  she  weighed 
but  nineteen  pounds  and  only  Hved  a  few  hours  after  being 
brought  into  the  fresh  air.  The  search  was  continued  and  they 
were  both  astounded  and  astonished  to  learn  that  these  bones  that 
were  found  in  the  ruins  of  his  burned  house  were  those  of  natives 
who  had  mysterioously  disappeared  from  the  island,  and  were 
supposed  to  have  either  joined  the  Cuban  patriots  or  the  American 
army,  but  from  investigation  it  was  learned  to  a  degree  of  cer- 
tainty that  this  priest  had  been  secretly  working  through  the 
orders  of  the  officials  of  Spain,  and  enticing  poor  trusting  Cubans 
into  his  residence,  from  which  they  were  never  again  seen.  Inves- 
tigation failed  to  locate  Tamaro,  and  it  is,  supposed  that  he  was 
smuggled  out  of  Cuba,  and  is  now,  perhaps,  serving  the  Pope  by 
presiding  over  some  church  of  Spain. 

If  the  fallacies  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome  are 
correct,  relative  to  the  priest  having  the  power  to  forgive  sins, 
tlien  Tamaro,  who  must  have  been  guilty  of  a  number  of  crimes, 
and  even  taking  human  lives,  could  easily  be  absolved  from  all  of 
these  innumerable  sins  by  simply  entering  the  confession  box  of 
some  brother  priest.  Americans,  have  you  ever  stopped  and  per- 
mitted yourself  to  look  at  this  proposition  in  a  candid,  sineere 
manner  ?   If  the  priest  has  the  power  to  absolve  sinners  from  their 


mNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  lit 


sins,  is  it  not  a  license  to  transgressors  to  continue  in  their  sins? 
for  how  easy  it  is  to  defraud  your  neighbor,  or  strike  down  an 
enemy  in  cold  blood,  and  then  flee  to  a  near-by  priest,  and  have 
the  stain  washed  from  your  soul.  Is  it  possible  that  the  American 
people  will  continue  to  allow  such  heathenish  doctrines  to  be  pro- 
mulgated ? 

The  Bible  tells  the  devout  inquirer  after  truth  that  "The  Son 
of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins."  The  Romish  Church 
tells  its  devotees  that  the  priest,  good  or  bad,  a  Christian  or  a  sin- 
ner, hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  or  withhold  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  when  and  to  whom  he  pleases.  It  is  the  business  of  this  chap- 
ter to  place  before  the  reader  in  Rome's  own  language  the  exact 
doctrine  of  the  Church  upon  this  subject.  We  proceed  with  the 
doctrine  of  priestly  absolution  as  taught  by  the  Church  to  the 
young  in  the  catechism  that  is  now  taught  in  many  public  schools 
in  the  United  States  at  the  expense  of  the  State.  We  turn  to 
"Catechism  of  Catholic  Doctrine,"  as  taught  in  all  Catholic 
schools,  and  on  page  32,  lesson  17,  we  read : 

Ques.  How  do  you  know  that  the  priest  has  the  power  oi 
absolving  from  sins  committed  after  baptism  ? 

Ans.  I  know  that  the  priest  has  the  power  of  absolving 
from  sins  committed  after  baptism,  because  Jesus  Christ  granted 
that  power  to  the  priests  of  his  Church. 

Ques.  How  do  the  priests  of  the  Church  exercise  the  power 
of  forgiving  sins  ? 

Ans.  The  priests  of  the  Church  exercise  the  power  of  for- 
giving sins  by  hearing  the  confession  of  sins  and  granting  pardon 
for  them  as  ministers  of  God,  and  in  His  name. 

The  Catholic  doctrine  of  priestly  absolution  is  further  set 


Ife  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

forth  in  a  book  called  "Defense  of  Catholic  Principles,"  by  Priest 
Demetrius  A.  Gallitzin,  and  published  by  the  Catholic  Publication 
Society,  No.  9  Warren  Street,  N.  Y.    On  page  46  we  read : 

We  believe  that  the  ministers  of  Christ,  those  whom  we 
call  bishops  and  priests,  have  received  the  power  of  forgiving  and 
retaining  sins.  We  believe  that  confession  is  necessarily  deduci- 
ble  from  the  grant  of  the  above  power.  It  cannot  be  conceived 
how  a  minister  of  Christ  is  to  exercise  his  power  of  forgiving  or 
retaining  sins,  unless  he  has  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  sinner's 
mind,  etc. 

So  important  do  we  deem  this  damnable  paganism  to  the 
full  and  clear  understanding  of  the  Romish  doctrine,  we  think  it 
best  to  trouble  the  reader  with  other,  and,  if  possible,  more  author- 
itative testimony.  ,0n  page  182,  Catechism  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  we  find  the  following : 

Many  prayers  accompany  the  form,  not  because  they  are 
deemed  necessary,  but  in  order  to  remove  every  obstacle  which  the 
unworthiness  of  the  penitent  may  oppose  to  the  efficacy  of  the 
sacrament.  Let  then  the  sinner  pour  out  his  heart  in  fervent 
thanks  to  God,  who  has  invested  the  ministers  of  His  Church  with 
such  ample  powers.  Unlike  the  authority  given  to  the  priests  of 
the  Old  Law,  to  declare  the  leper  cleansed  from  his  leprosy,  the 
power  with  which  the  priests  of  the  New  Law  are  invested  is  not 
simply  to  declare  that  sins  are  forgiven,  but,  as  ministers  of  God, 
really  to  absolve  from  sin ;  a  power  which  God  himself,  the  author 
and  source  of  grace  and  justification,  exercises  through  their  min- 
istry. 

They  will,  also,  serve  to  place  in  a  clearer  point  of  view,  the 
duty  of  those  who  desire,  and  desire  every  one  should,  to  evince 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  177 


their  grateful  recollection  of  so  estimable  a  favor.  Humbled  in 
spirit,  the  sincere  penitent  casts  himself  down  at  the  feet  of  the 
priest  to  testify,  by  this  humble  demeanor,  that  he  acknowledges 
the  necessity  of  eradicating  pride,  the  root  of  all  the  enormities 
which  he  now  deplores.  In  the  minister  of  God,  who  sits  in  the 
tribunal  of  penance  as  his  legitimate  judge,  he  venerates  the  power 
and  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  for  in  the  administration  of 
this,  as  in  that  of  other  sacraments,  the  priest  represents  the  char- 
acter and  discharges  the  functions  of  Jesus  Christ.  Acknowledg- 
ing himself  deserving  of  the  severest  chastisements,  and  implor- 
ing the  pardon  of  his  guilt,  the  penitent  next  proceeds  to  the  con- 
fession of  his  sins. 

The  great  efficacy  of  penance  is,  therefore,  that  it  restores 
us  to  the  favor  of  God,  and  unites  us  to  him  in  the  closest  bonds  of 
friendship. 

There  is  no  sin,  however  grievous,  no  crime,  however  enor- 
mous, or  however  frequently  repeated,  which  penance  does  not 
remit.  "If,"  says  the  Almighty,  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophet, 
"the  wicked  do  penance  for  all  his  sins,  which  he  hath  committed, 
and  keep  all  my  commandments,  and  do  judgment  and  justice, 
living  he  shall  live  and  shall  not  die;  I  will  not  remember  all  his 
iniquities  which  he  hath  done."     , 

To  return  to  penance,  to  it  belongs,  in  so  special  a  manner, 
the  efficacy  of  remitting  actual  guilt,  that  without  its  intervention 
we  can  not  obtain  even  hope  for  pardon.  It  is  written :  "Unless 
you  do  penance,  you  shall  all  perish."  These  words  of  our  Lord 
are  to  be  understood  of  grievous  and  deadly  sins,  although,  as  St. 
Augustine  observes,  venial  sins  also  require  some  penance.  "If," 
says  he,  "without  penance,  venial  sin  could  be  remitted,  the  dail^ 

(12) 


m  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

penance,  performed  for  them  by  the  Church,  would  be  nugatory." 

The  faithful  are  most  earnestly  to  be  exhorted  to  study  to 
direct  their  contrition  specially  to  each  mortal  sin  into  which  they 
may  have  the  misfortune  to  fall :  "I  will  recount  to  thee,"  says 
Isaias,  "all  my  years  in  the  bitterness  of  my  soul;"  as  if  he  had 
said :  "I  will  count  over  all  my  sins  severally,  that  my  heart  may 
be  pierced  with  sorrow  for  them  all."  In  Ezekiel,  also,  we  read: 
"If  the  wicked  do  penance  for  all  his  sins,  he  shall  live."  In  this 
spirit  St.  Augustine  says :  "Let  the  sinner  consider  the  quality  of 
his  sins,  as  affected  by  time,  place,  variety,  person."  In  the  work 
of  conversion,  however,  the  sinner  should  not  despair  of  the  in- 
finite goodness  and  mercy  of  God;  he  is  most  desirous  of  our 
salvation;  and,  therefore,  refuses  not  to  pardon,  but  to  embrace, 
with  a  father's  fondness,  the  prodigal  child,  the  moment  he  re- 
turns to  a  sense  of  his  duty,  and  is  converted  to  the  Lord. 

Cast  away  from  you  all  your  transgressions,  by  which  you 
have  transgressed,  and  make  yourselves  a  new  heart.  To  the 
woman  caught  in  adultery,  the  Redeemer  Himself  imparts  the 
same  lesson  of  instruction :  "Go  thy  way  and  sin  no  more ;"  and 
also  to  the  lame  man  whom  he  cured  at  the  pool  of  Bethsadia: 
"Behold,  thou  art  made  whole,  sin  no  more."  That  a  sorrow  for 
sin,  and  a  firm  purpose  in  avoiding  sin  for  the  future,  are  indis- 
pensible  to  contrition,  is  the  dictate  of  unassisted  reason. 

Not  only  does  the  Church  of  Rome  teach  that  popes,  bishops 
and  priests  have  the  power  of  forgiving  sins,  but  it  goes  further, 
and  teaches  that  bad  priests  in  mortal  sin  exercise  the  same  power. 
In  Fredet's  history,  published  in  New  York  in  1886,  on  page  511, 
we  find  the  language : 

J.t  is  true,  a  few  among  the  popes  gave  great  scandal  to  the 


NWETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.        '  179 

Christian  world  in  their  private  character  and  conduct,  but  it 
ought  to  be  remembered  at  the  same  time,  that,  through  a  special 
protection  of  Divine  Providence,  the  irregularities  of  their  lives 
did  not  interfere  with  their  public  duty,  from  which  they  never 
departed.  The  beneficial  influence  of  sacred  jurisdiction  does  not 
depend  on  the  private  virtue  of  the  persons  invested  with  it. 

But  hear  what  the  Canons  and  Decrees  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  in  its  wisdom  and  piety,  says.  We  refer  you  to  page  lOO, 
session  XIV,  chapter  VI: 

But  as  regards  the  ministry  of  this  sacrament  (priests  for- 
giving sins),  the  holy  Synod  declares  these  doctrines  to  be  false 
and  utterly  alien  from  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  which  perniciously 
extend  the  ministry  of  the  keys  to  any  other  soever  besides  bishops 
and  priests.  It  (the  holy  Synod)  teaches  also  that  even  priests 
who  are  in  mortal  sin  exercise,  through  the  virtue  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  was  bestowed  in  ordination,  the  office  of  forgiving 
sins,  as  ministers  of  Christ. 

On  page  109,  Canon  X,  it  says: 

If  any  one  sayeth  that  priests  who  are  in  mortal  sin  hath  not 

the  power   of   binding   and  losing let  him  be  anathema 

(accursed). 

From  the  time  a  Catholic  child  is  born,  the  benighted  in- 
fluences of  Catholicism  at  once  begins  to  throw  her  ignorant  and 
befuddeling  influences  about  it,  and  these  same  influences  are  con- 
tinued until  the  child  arrives  at  the  years  of  responsibility,  or  at 
the  age  when  it  is  supposed  they  have  intelligence  enough  to  dis- 
cern between  good  and  evil,  but  by  that  time  a  child  brought  up 
under  the  influences  of  Catholic  parents,  and  has  had  the  mysti- 
fying influences  of  the  Church  hanging  about  its  childish  life,  is 


180  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


utterly  unable  to  exercise  Its  normal  intellectual  faculties  in  regard 
to  what  is  right  and  wrong,  for  the  impressions  that  the  mind 
first  receive  at  home  will  tenaciously  cling  to  that  child,  and  noth- 
ing less  than  a  herculean  struggle  will  free  that  mind  of  these 
impressions,  and  bring  it  back  to  an  intelligent  conception  of  facts 
and  not  mere  fancies.  This  is  why  Catholicism  takes  the  child  in 
its  swaddling  clothes,  for  they  have  long  since  learned  that  the 
quickest  and  easiest  way  to  make  "full  grown  fools,"  is  to  make 
"little  fools,"  and  they  have  also  learned  that  it  is  easier  to  mold 
the  mind  of  an  infant,  than  that  of  a  grown  person.  I  make  the 
assertion  that  no  where  on  earth  is  there  such  dense  ignorance 
found  as  in  a  strict  Catholic  school,  whose  scholars  have  never 
been  permitted  to  breathe  the  free  and  intellectual  atmosphere  of 
a  public  school.  I  defy  the  world  to  successfully  contradict  this 
statement.    Who  will  dare  undertake  to  refute  it  ? 


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Chapter  XII. 

To  Ask  Questions  Means  Death. 


On  the  29th  day  of  August,  1898,  two  Christian  missionaries 
called  upon  Bishop  Morello,  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  to  make 
inquiries  regarding  the  conduct  of  a  number  of  his  priests.  Their 
object  was  to  get  consent  of  the  bishop  to  hold  meetings  in  his 
bishopric,  as  each  of  the  priests  in  this  district  had  refused  these 
men  the  privilege  of  expounding  Protestant  doctrines,  and  had  in- 
sinuated that  should  they  dare  to  do  so  that  their  lives  would  pay 
the  penalty.  These  men  could  not  believe  that  the  bishop  would 
refuse  them  this  request,  and  had  called  to  get  him  to  give  his 
consent,  knowing  that  his  power  was  superior  to  that  of  the 
priests.  They  made  their  wants  known  in  a  courteous  manner 
and  were  refused,  and  informed  that  they  could  not  preach,  and 
further  instructed  that  any  attempt  to  converse  with  a  native 
upon  the  subject  of  Protestant  religion  would  not  only  mean 
death,  but  death  with  all  the  tortures  of  the  inquisition.  After 
being  refused  this  request,  they  asked  the  bishop  why  it  was  that 
Priest  Varzeni  had  and  needed  eleven  housekeepers,  and  wh^  it 


184  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


was  that  all  of  them  were  young  and  pretty  women,  and  not  a 
single  old  or  ugly  one  among  them.  This  so  angered  the  bishop 
that  he  called  five  stalwart  natives  and  instructed  them  to  arm 
themselves  and  see  that  these  men  did  not  molest  him  any  more. 
These  poor  missionaries  did  not  know  the  awful  meaning  of  these 
instructions,  but  they  were  led  two  miles  from  the  bishop's  resi- 
dence and  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  a  crucifix  hung  around  their 
necks,  their  faces  turned  towards  the  setting  sun  and  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  leader  the  cracks  of  three  rifles  rang  out  upon  the 
stillness  of  the  tropical  evening,  and  these  souls,  in  a  far-away 
land,  lie  prostrate  and  cold  in  death,  for  daring  to  ask  a  Catholic 
dignitary  the  privilege  of  expounding  the  doctrines  of  Christ  to 
an  ignorant  and  hood-winked  nation. 

The  Romish  Church,  through  the  liberality  of  Protestants, 
are  permitted  to  expound  their  doctrines,  which  every  Protestant 
government  knows  is  detrimental  to  a  free  and  independent 
government,  but  when  a  Protestant  asks  permission  to  talk  of  a 
living  Christ  to  Catholic  subjects,  they  are  insulted,  and  even  put 
to  death. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Phillips,  who,  perhaps,  has 
more  data  upon  the  subject  of  Catholicism  than  most  any  other 
Protestant  in  the  country,  we  will,  during  the  remainder  of  this 
chapter,  have  occasion  to  use  extracts  from  some  of  his  valuable 
works. 

If  it  were  not  true  that  the  Canon  law  and  fundamental  Code 
of  the  Romish  Church  was  utterly  incompatible  with  the  constitu- 
tion and  laws  of  the  Republic,  and  also  at  total  variance  with  the 
spirit  and  genius  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  these  pages  would  never 
be  written. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  185 

It  is  our  purpose,  in  the  short  chapter  that  shall  follow,  to 
give  the  reader  an  authentic  epitome  of  a  few  of  the  doctrines  and 
facts  which  we  have  at  our  command,  establishing  the  proposition 
that  no  loyal  Roman  Catholic  can  be  a  loyal  citizen  of  this  govern- 
ment, and,  consequently,  should  not  be  placed  by  vote  of  the 
American  people,  into  places  of  official  trust  and  responsibility. 
The  first  evidence  of  this,  to  which  we  call  the  reader's  special 
attention,  is  the  following  leading  provisions  gleaned  from  the 
Canon  law  of  the  Church  of  Rome  by  Dr.  G.  F.  Von  Schulte,  pro- 
fessor of  Canonical  Law  at  Prague,  viz. : 

I.  All  human  power  is  from  evil,  and  must  therefore  be 
standing  under  the  Pope. 

II.  The  temporal  powers  must  act  unconditionally,  in  con- 
cord between  light  and  darkness  as  between  that  Church  and  the 
American  government. 

But  if  met  by  the  objection,  as  we  sometimes  are,  that  the 
above  were  the  laws  of  the  Church  of  Rome  years  ago,  and  that 
they  have  been  modified  and  made  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  the 
present  day,  we  answer  by  quoting  the  following  paragraph  from 
the  Syllabus  of  Pope  Pius  IX,  issued  December  8,  1864,  and  sub- 
sequently by  the  decree  of  infallibility  confirmed  as  truths  eternal, 
and  equally  as  authoritative  as  the  commands  given  by  Christ 
himself.  To  the  loyal  Catholic,  God's  word  is  not  equal  in  author- 
ity to  the  following : 

I.  The  State  has' not  the  right  to  leave  every  man  free  to 
profess  and  embrace  whatever  religion  he  shall  deem  true. 

II.  It  has  not  the  right  to  enact  that  the  ecclesiastical  power 
shall  require  the  permission  of  the  civil  power  in  order  to  exercise 
its  authority. 


188  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

III.  It  has  not  the  right  to  treat  as  an  excess  of  power,  or 
a.i  usurping  the  rights  of  princes,  anything  that  the  Roman  Pon- 
tiffs or  Ecumenical  Councils  have  done. 

IV.  It  has  not  the  right  to  adopt  the  conclusions  of  a  Na- 
tional Church  Council  unless  confirmed  by  the  Pope. 

V.  It  has  not  the  right  of  establishing  a  National  Church 
separate  from  the  Pope. 

VI.  It  has  not  the  right  to  the  entire  direction  of  public 
schools. 

VII.  It  has  not  the  right  to  assist  subjects  who  wish  to  aban- 
don monasteries  or  convents. 

Then  in  the  same  sylabus  the  rights  and  powers  of  the 
Church  are  affirmed,  thus,  viz. : 

I.  She  has  the  right  to  require  the  State  not  to  leave  every^ 
man  free  to  profess  his  own  religion. 

II.  She  has  the  right  to  exercise  her  power  without  the  per- 
mission or    consent  of  the  State. 

III.  She  has  the  right  to  prevent  the  foundation  of  any 
National  Church  not  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Pon- 
tiff. 

IV.  She  has  the  right  to  deprive  the  civil  authority  of  the 
entire  government  of  public  schools. 

V.  She  has  the  right  of  perpetuating  the  union  of  Church 
and  State. 

VI.  She  has  the  right  to  require  that  the  Catholic  religion 
shall  be  the  only  religion  of  the  State,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others. 

VII.  She  has  the  right  to  prevent  the  State  from  granting 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  187 

the  public  exercise  of  their  own  worship  to  persons  immigrating 
into  it. 

VIII.  She  has  the  power  of  requiring  the  State  not  to  per- 
mit free  expression  of  opinion. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  history  of  Romanism  shows  the 
oft  repeated  application  of  all  the  foregoing  claims  and  princi- 
ples. The  present  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII,  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of 
Perigueux,  July  2y,  1884,  explicitly  confirms  the  foregoing,  thus: 
"The  teaching  given  by  this  Apostolic  See,  whether  contained  in 
the  Sylabus  and  other  Acts  of  our  illustrious  predecessor,  or  in 
our  own  Encyclical  Letters  has  given  clear  guidance  to  the 
faithful  as  to  what  should  be  their  thoughts  and  their  conduct  in 
the  midst  of  the  difficulties  of  times  and  events.  There  they  will 
find  a  rule  for  the  direction  of  their  minds  and  their  works." 
Again,  in  his  Encyclical  of  1885,  he  approves  the  Sylabus,  repu- 
diating the  idea  that  "each  man  should  be  allowed  freely  to  think 
on  whatever  subject  he  pleases,"  and  condemns  any  government 
in  which  "every  one  will  be  allowed  to  follow  the  religion  he  pre- 
fers." 

While  all  history,  civilization,  and  gospel  truth  alike  condemn 
the  political  cunning  of  the  Papacy,  still,  that  which  is  most 
alarming  is  the  perilous  fact  that  the  public  is,  to  a  suicidal  degree, 
indifferent  to  the  insidious  advancements  and  encroachments  of 
this  despotic  and  mighty  medievalism.  "The  public  peril  is  neg- 
lected for  personal  aims."  To  use  the  language  of  L.  M.  Vernon : 
"Pride,  pleasure  and  luxury,  like  a  leash  of  hounds,  bay  on  the 
heels  of  gratification.  The  press  panders,  the  politicians  trim, 
the  ministers  doze,  while  the  priests  sow  tares."  Duty  commands 
every  voice  to  cry  aloud  and  spare  not ;  the  pen  and  the  press  to 


188  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  '0F_  ROMANISM. 

unite  in  one  impetuous  sustained  appeal  enforced  by  the  priceless 
interests  of  our  imperilled  civil  and  religious  liberties  and  insti- 
tutions. God  help  the  people  to  awake  before  the  deceiver  has  de- 
ceived and  the  destroyer  has  destroyed  all  that  makes  this  country 
the  "land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave." 

MINISTERIAL    SWEARING. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  as  a  religio-political  corpora- 
tion is  arrayed  against  every  phase  of  social,  political  and  religious 
liberty.  Whether  we  speak  of  the  source  of  political  power  as  de- 
fined in  our  Constitution,  of  the  supremacy  of  law,  or  of  its  several 
parts  with  their  theory  of  human  rights,  or  again  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  executive  and  legislative  bodies  of  the  government  as 
embodied  in  its  provisions,  or  the  administration  of  justice,  to 
each  and  all  of  these,  the  Church  is  not  only  the  most  open  and 
pronounced  enemy,  but  in  its  secret  and  solemn  oaths  it  pledges 
itself  to  secretly  and  persistently  work  for  its  own  supremacy 
over  all  governments. 

No  Roman  bishop,  priest,  layman  can  be  loyal  to  the  Roman 
Pontiff  and  at  the  same  time  be  loyal  to  this  government  and  its 
institutions.  As  evidence  to  this,  we  ask  the  reader  to  carefully 
study  the  following  oaths  taken  by  the  clergy: 

ROMAN    bishop's    OATH. 

I,  G.  N.,  elect  of  the  Church  of  N.,  from  henceforth  will  be 
faithful  and  obedient  to  St.  Peter  the  Apostle,  and  to  the  holy 
Roman  Church,  and  to  our  lord,  the  lord  N.  Pope  N.,  and  to  his 
successor  canonically  coming  in.  I  will  neither  advise,  consent, 
nor  do  anything  that  they  may  lose  life  or  member,  or  that  their 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM..         ISd 


persons  may  be  seized  or  hands  anywise  laid  upon  them,  or  any 
injuries  offered  to  them,  under  any  pretense  whatsoever.  The 
counsel  which  they  shall  entrust  me  withal,  by  themselves,  their 
messengers  or  letters,  I  will  not  knowingly  reveal  to  any,  to  their 
prejudice.  I  will  help  them  to  defend  and  keep  the  Roman  Papacy 
and  the  royalists  of  St.  Peter,  saving  my  order  against  all  men. 
The  legate  of  the  Apostolic  See,  going  and  coming  I  will  honor- 
ably treat,  and  help  in  his  necessities.  The  rights,  honors  and  pri- 
vileges, and  authority  of  the  holy  Roman  Church,  of  our  lord  the 
Pope,  and  his  aforesaid  successors,  I  will  endeavor  to  preserve, 
defend,  increase  and  advance.  I  will  not  be  in  any  council,  action 
or  ti'eaty  in  which  it  shall  be  plotted  against  our  said  lord,  and  the 
said  Roman  Church,  anything  to  the  hurt  or  prejudice  of  their 
persons,  right,  honor,  state  or  power;  and  if  I  know  any  such 
thing  to  be  treated  or  agitated  by  any  whomsoever,  I  will  hinder 
it  all  that  I  can;  and  as  soon  as  I  can,  will  signify  it  to  our  said 
lord,  or  some  other,  by  whom  it  may  come  to  his  knowledge.  The 
rules  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  the  Apostolic  decrees,  ordinances,  or 
disposals,  reservations,  provisions  and  mandates,  I  will  observe 
with  all  my  might,  and  cause  to  be  observed  by  others.  Heretics, 
schismatics,  and  rebels  to  our  said  lord,  or  his  aforesaid  succes- 
sors, I  will  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  persecute  and  oppose.  I 
will  come  to  a  council  when  I  am  called,  unless  I  be  hindered  by  a 
canonical  impediment.  I  will  by  myself  in  person,  visit  the  thresh- 
old of  the  Apostles  every  three  years ;  and  give  an  account  to  our 
lord  and  his  aforesaid  successors,  of  all  my  pastoral  office,  and  of 
all  things  anywise  belonging  to  the  state  of  my  church,  to  the 
discipline  of  my  clergy  and  people,  and  lastly  to  the  salvation  of 
souls  committed  to  my  trust;  and  will  in  like  manner  humbly  re- 


19©  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

ceive  and  diligently  execute  the  Apostolic  commands.  And  if  1 
be  detained  by  a  lawful  impediment,  I  will  perform  all  the  things 
aforesaid  by  a  certain  messenger  hereto  specially  empowered,  a 
member  of  my  Chapter  or  some  other  in  ecclesiastical  dignity,  or 
else  having  a  parsonage,  or  in  default  of  these,  by  a  priest  of  the 
diocese;  or  in  default  of  one  of  the  clergy  (of  the  diocese)  by 
some  other  secular  or  regular  priest  of  approved  integrity  and  re- 
ligion, fully  instructed  in  all  things  above  mentioned.  And  such 
impediment  I  will  make  out,  by  lawful  proofs,  to  be  transmitted 
by  the  aforesaid  messenger,  to  the  Cardinal  proponent  of  the  holy 
Roman  Church,  in  the  congregation  of  the  sacred  council.  The 
possessions  belonging  to  my  table  I  will  neither  sell  nor  give  away, 
nor  mortgage  nor  grant  anew  in  fee,  nor  anywise  alienate,  no,  not 
even  with  the  consent  of  the  Chapter  of  my  Church,  without  con- 
sulting the  Roman  Pontiff.  And  if  I  shall  make  any  alienation,  I 
will  therefore  incur  the  penalties  contained  in  a  certain  constitu- 
tion put  forth  about  this  matter. 

So  help  me  God  and  these  holy  gospels  of  God. 

The  following  is  the  oath  taken  by  the  priests,  as  adminis- 
tered at  Maynooth  College,  in  Ireland.  Read  it,  and  then  decide 
if  a  man  taking  this  oath  can  be  a  loyal  citizen  of  this  government. 

JESUIT  PRIEST^S  OATH. 

I,  A.B.,  do  acknowledge  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  his  holi- 
ness and  the  mother  Church  of  Rome  as  the  chief  head  and 
matron  above  all  pretended  churches  throughout  the  whole  earth ; 
and  that  my  zeal  shall  be  for  St.  Peter  and  his  successors,  as  the 
founder  of  the  true  and  ancient  Catholic  faith,  against  all  here- 
tical kings,  princes,  states  or  powers,  repugnant  unto  the  same; 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  19^ 

and  although  I,  A.  B.,  may  follow,  In  case  of  persecution,  or  other- 
wise to  be  heretically  depised,  yet  in  soul  and  conscience  I  shall 
hold,  aid  and  succor  the  mother  Church  of  Rome  as  the  true,  an- 
cient and  apostolic  Church ;  I,  A.  B.,  further  do  declare  not  to  act 
or  conrtol  any  matter  or  thing  prejudicial  unto  her,  in  her  sacred 
orders,  doctrines,  tenets  or  commands  without  leave  of  its  su- 
preme power  or  its  authority,  under  her  appointed  or  to  be 
appointed;  and  being  so  permitted,  then  to  act,  and  further 
her  interests  more  than  my  earthly  good  and  earthly  pleasure,  as 
she  and  her  head,  his  holiness,  and  his  successors  have,  or  ought 
to  have,  the  supremacy  over  all  kings,  princes,  estates  or  powers 
whatsoever,  either  to  deprive  them  of  their  crowns,  scepters, 
powers,  privileges,  realms,  countries,  or  governments,  or  to  set 
up  others  in  lieu  thereof,  they  dissenting  from  the  mother  church 
and  her  commands. 

The  following  is  the  profession  of  Catholic  faith  or  Layman's 
oath,  as  found  in  the  Catholic  prayer  book.  We  omit  the  creed 
wath  which  this  oath  begins : 

layman's   oath. 

I  most  steadfastly  admit  and  embrace  the  apostolic  and  eccle- 
siastical traditions,  and  all  other  observances  and  constitutions  of 
the  Church. 

I  also  admit  the  holy  scripture,  according  to  that  sense  whicH 
our  holy  mother,  the  Church,  hath  held  and  doth  hold,  to  whom  it 
belongeth  to  judge  of  the  true  sense  and  interpretation  of  the 
Scripture;  neither  will  I  ever  take  and  interpret  them  otherwise 
than  according  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Fathers. 

I  also  profess  that  there  are  truly  and  properly  seven  Sacra- 


192  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

ments  of  the  new  law,  instituted  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  and 
necessary  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  though  not  all  for  every 
one,to-wit :  Baptism,  Confirmation,  the  Eucharist,  Penance,  Ex- 
treme Unction,  Orders  and  Matrimony;  and  that  they  confer 
grace ;  and  that  of  these  Baptism,  Confirmation  and  Orders,  can 
not  be  repeated  without  sacrilege.  I  also  receive  and  admit  the 
received  and  approved  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  Church,  used 
in  the  solemn  administration  of  the  aforesaid  sacraments, 

I  embrace  and  receive  all  and  every  one  of  the  things  which 
have  been  defined  and  declared  in  the  Holy  Council  of  Trent  con- 
cerning original  sin  and  justification. 

I  profess,  likewise,  that  in  the  Mass  there  is  ofifered  to  God  a 
true,  proper  and  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead. 
And  that  in  the  most  holy  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  there  is 
truly,  really,  and  substantially  the  Body  and  Blood,  together  with 
the  soul  a^nd  divinity,  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  that  there  is 
made  a  conversion  of  the  whole  substance  of  the  bread  into  the 
Body  and  of  the  wine  into  the  Blood;  which  conversion  the 
Catholic  Church  calleth  Transubstantiation.  I  also  confess  that 
under  either  kind  alone  Christ  is  received  whole  and  entire  and  a 
true  sacrament. 

I  constantly  hold  that  there  is  a  Purgatory,  and  that  the  souls 
detained  therein  are  helped  by  the  suffrages  of  the  faithful. 

Likewise,  that  the  saints  reigning  together  with  Christ  are 
to  be  honored  and  invocated,  and  that  they  offer  prayers  to  God 
for  us,  and  that  their  relics  are  to  be  held  in  veneration. 

I  most  firmly  assert  that  the  images  of  Christ,  of  the  mother 
of  God  ever  Virgin,  and  also  of  other  Saints,  ought  to  be  had  and 
retained,  and  that  due  honor  and  veneration  are  to  be  given  them. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  193 

I  also  affirm  that  the  power  of  indulgences  was  left  by  Christ 
in  the  Church,  and  that  the  use  of  them  is  most  wholesome  to 
Christian  people. 

I  acknowledge  the  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic,  Roman  Church 
for  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all  Churches,  and  I  promise  true 
obedience  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  successor  of  St.  Peter,  Prince 
of  the  Apostles  and  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  likewise  undoubtedly  receive  and  profess  all  other  things 
delivered,  defined,  and  declared  by  the  sacred  canons  and  general 
councils,  and  particularly  by  the  holy  Council  of  Trent.  And  I 
condemn,  reject  and  anathematize  all  things  contrary  thereto,  and 
all  heresies  which  the  Church  hath  condemned,  rejected  and 
anathematized. 

I,  N.  N.,  do  at  this  present  freely  profess  and  sincerely  hold 
this  true  Catholic  faith,  out  of  \vhich  no  one  can  be  saved;  and  I 
promise  most  constantly  to  retain  and  confess  the  same  entire  and 
unviolated,  by  God's  assistance,  to  the  end  of  my  life. 

Every  one  who  has  read  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  knows  that  no  man  can,  upon  the  gospels  of  God,  take  the 
above  oaths,  and  then  be  loyal  to  this  government.  How  unwise, 
then,  to  fill  ninety  per  cent  of  the  municipal  offices  of  this  gov- 
ernment with  men  who  have  sworn  to  be  loyal  to  a  foreign  despot. 
How  unwise  to  place  these  oath-bound  subjects  of  a  foreign 
enemy  at  the  head  of  our  educational  interests,  when  they  teach 
disloyalty  to  the  young  at  the  expense  of  this  government.  God 
help  the  people  to  wake  up. 

ROMANISM    AND    SECULAR    GOVERNMENTS. 

The  attitude  of  the  Church  of  Rome  toward  secular  gov^ 
ernments  has  been  defined  in  the  Canon  law  of  the  Church  and  id 


194  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM. 

the  oaths  of  its  clergy;  but  that  no  one  may  be  misled  by  the 
plausible  interpretations  that  may  be,  and  often  are,  placed  upon 
language  so  manifestly  treasonable,  we  add,  in  this  chapter,  the 
testimony  of  the  Church,  through  a  number  of  its  most  prominent 
representatives,  proving  the  proposition  that  no  loyal  Roman 
Catholic  can  be  a  loyal  citizen  of  the  United  States.  This  testi- 
mony we  take  from  undisputed  Roman  Catholic  authority,  so  that 
the  reader  may  see  the  clear  and  forcible  enunciations  to  which 
every  Roman  Catholic  has  sworn  to  be  faithful  and  obedient. 

In  the  encyclical  letter  of  Pope  Leo  XIIL,  written  to  Ameri- 
can Catholics,  November  i,  1885,  he  says; 

We  exhort  all  Catholics  who  would  devote  careful  attention 
to  public  matters  to  take  an  active  part  in  all  municipal  affairs  and 
elections,  and  to  favor  the  principles  of  the  church  in  all  public 
services,  meetings  and  gatherings.  All  Catholics  must  make 
themselves  felt  as  active  elements  in  daily  political  life  in  the  coun- 
tries where  they  live.  They  must  penetrate,  wherever  possible, 
in  the  administration  of  civil  affairs;  must  constantly  exert  the 
utmost  vigilance  and  energy  to  prevent  the  usage  of  liberty  from 
going  beyond  the  limits  of  God's  fixed  laws.  All  Catholics  should 
do  all  in  their  power  to  cause  the  constitutions  of  States  and  legis- 
lation to  be  modeled  in  the  principles  of  the  true  church.  All 
Catholic  writers  and  journalists  should  never  lose  for  an  instant 
from  view  the  above  prescriptions. 

It  is  not  lawful  to  follow  one  rule  In  private  conduct  and  an- 
other in  the  government  of  state,  to-wit :  that  the  authority  of  the 
church  should  be  observed  in  private  life,  but  rejected  in  state 
matters.  The  Roman  Church  has  a  right  to  exercise  its  authority 
.without  any  limit  set  to  it  by  the  civil  powers.    The  Pope  and  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM.  195 

priests  ought  to  have  dominion  over  temporal  affairs ;  the  Roman 
Church  and  her  ecclesiastics  have  a  right  to  immunity  from  civil 
law ;  in  case  of  conflict  between  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  the 
ecclesiastical  powers  ought  to  prevail. — Pope  Leo  XIII. 

We  have  lately  been  informed  here  that  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  change  the  order  of  things  in  that  Republic  (Mexico) 
by  publishing  programs  in  which  are  enumerated  freedom  of  edu- 
cation and  worship.  Both  of  these  principles  are  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  God  and  the  church.  To  repair  the  evils  occasioned  by  the 
revolution,  and  to  bring  back  as  soon  as  possible  happy  days  for 
the  church,  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion  must,  above  all  things, 
continue  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  dissenting  worship. — 
Pope  Pius  IX. 

The  Pope  can  dispense  with  any  law.  The  constitutions  and 
decrees  of  the  popes  are  explanations  of  the  divine  law,  and  are 
therefore  binding  as  soon  as  known.  The  church  does  not  recog- 
nize the  right  in  the  government  to  say  whether  or  not  the  Pontifi- 
cal decree  shall  be  enforced.  She  is  supreme  and  independent,  and 
therefore  can  admit  of  no  intermeddling  with  her  authority.  Ec- 
clesiastical property  must  be  governed  by  the  laws  of  the  Church. 
By  these,  laymen  have  no  right  to  property  in  the  Church  and  is 
against  the  law  of  God  for  them  to  dispose  of  its  revenue. — Peter 
Den's  Theology. 

Shortly  after  the  decree  of  infallibility  was  announced,  and 
this  profession  of  primary  fidehty  to  the  Pope  was  made  in  New 
York,  the  New  York  Herald,  which  has  always  been  controlled 
by  a  moderate  Roman  Catholic,  said : 

"There  are  thousands  of  Roman  Catholics  in  this  land  who 
do  not  glace  Rome  above  the  United  States,  and  whose  patriotism 


196  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


can  not  be  subverted  by  fealty  to  religious  dogmas  and  creeds." 

To  this  patriotic  utterance,  which  we  would  fain  believe  to 
be  true,  the  New  York  Tablet,  Roman  Catholic,  of  November, 
1872,  replied: 

"The  Herald  is  behind  the  times,  and  appears  not  yet  to  have 
learned  that  the  thousands  of  Catholics  it  speaks  of  are  simply  no 
Catholics  at  all,  if  it  does  not  misrepresent  them.  Gallicanism, 
which  denies  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope,  is  a  heresy;  and  he 
who  denies  the  Papal  supremacy  in  the  government  of  the  uni- 
versal church  is  as  far  from  being  a  Catholic  as  he  who  denies  the 
Incarnation,  or  the  Real  Presence.  The  Church  is  more  than 
country,  and  loyalty  to  the  creed  that  God  teaches  and  enjoins 
through  her,  is  more  than  patriotism.  We  must  obey  God  rather 
than  man.  Our  Church  is  God's  Church,  and  not  accountable 
either  to  State  or  to  country. 

Thus  you  see  how  the  organ  of  the  heirarchy  denounces  the 
doctrine  of  moderate  Romanism,  which  had  only  insisted  on 
loyalty  to  the  country. 

Nationality  must  be  subordinate  to  religion,  and  we  must 
learn  that  we  are  Catholics  first  and  citizens  next.  God  is  above 
man  and  the  Church  is  above  the  State. — Bishop  Gilmour. 

"The  Catholics  of  the  United  States  are  as  strongly  devoted 
to  the  sustenance  and  maintenance  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
holy  Father  as  Catholics  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  if  it  should 
be  necessary  to  prove  it  by  their  acts,  they  are  ready  to  do  so." — 
Cardinal  McCloskey. 

"I  acknowledge  no  civil  power,  I  am  the  subject  of  no  prince, 
and  I  claim  more  than  this;  I  claim  to  be  the  supreme  judge  and 
(director  of  the  concerns  of  men,  of  the  peasant  that  tills  the  field 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  197 


and  of  the  prince  who  sits  on  the  throne,  of  the  household  that 
lives  in  the  shade  of  privacy  and  the  legislator  that  makes  laws 
for  the  kingdom.  I  am  the  sole,  last,  supreme  judge  of  what  is 
right  and  wrong.  Moreover,  I  declare,  affirm,  define  and  pro- 
nounce it  to  be  necessary  to  the  salvation  for  every  human  creat- 
ure to  be  subject  to  the  Pontiff  of  Rome.'' — Cardinal  Manning. 

"If  the  American  Republic  is  to  be  sustained  and  preserved 
at  all,  it  must  be  by  the  rejection  of  the  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion and  the  acceptance  of  the  Catholic  principles  by  the  American 
people.  If  allegiance  to  the  Church  demand  of  us  opposition  to 
political  principles  adopted  by  our  civil  government,  we  should 
not  hesitate  to  obey  the  Church.  While  the  State  has  rights,  she 
has  them  only  in  virtue  and  by  permission  of  the  supreme  author- 
ity, and  that  authority  can  only  be  expressed  through  the  Church. 
We  are  purely  and  simply  Catholic  and  profess  unreserved  alle- 
giance to  the  Church,  which  takes  precedence  of,  and  gives  the 
rule  to  our  allegiance  to  the  state." — Catholic  World. 

"The  Roman  Catholic  citizen  of  the  United  States  owes  no 
allegiance  to  any  principle  of  the  government  which  is  condemned 
by  the  Church  or  Pope." — New  York  Tablet. 

"The  Catholic  religion  with  all  its  votes  ought  to  be  exclu- 
sively dominant  in  such  sort  that  every  other  worship  shall  be  ban- 
ished and  interdicted." — Pope  Pius  IX. 

"How  can  this  independence  of  civil  authority  (of  the  Pope) 
be  secured?  Only  in  one  way.  The  Pope  must  be  a  sovereign 
himself;  no  temporal  prince,  whether  emperor,  or  king,  or  presi- 
dent, or  any  legislative  body,  can  have  any  lawful  jurisdiction  over 
the  Pope.  What  right  has  the  Pope  to  be  independent  of  every 
civil  ruler?    He  has  it  in  virtue  of  his  dignity  as  the  Vicar  of 


198  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Christ.  Christ  himself  is  king  of  kings;  but  the  Pope  governs 
the  church  in  the  name  of  Christ  and  as  His  representative.  His 
divine  office,  therefore,  makes  him  superior  to  every  poHtical, 
temporal  and  human  government." — Pope's  Temporal  Power 
Number  46. 

One  of  the  most  capable  and  learned  writers  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  Dr.  O.  A.  Brownson,  of  the  Catholic  Review. 
Among  his  writings  we  extract  the  following: 

"All  the  rights  the  sects  have,  or  can  have,  are  derived  from 
the  State  and  rest  on  expediency.  As  they  have,  in  their  charac- 
ter of  sects,  hostile  to  the  true  religion,  no  rights  under  the  law 
of  nature  or  the  law  of  God,  they  are  neither  wronged  nor  de- 
prived of  liberty  if  the  State  refuses  to  grant  them  any  rights  at 
all."      • 

But  this  great  light  in  the  Romish  Church  does  not  stop 
here,  but  as  a  great  reviewer  and  Catholic  teacher,  and  one,  too, 
whose  utterances  carry  much  force  with  them,  further  says : 

"Protestantism  has  not  and  never  can  have  any  rights  where 
Catholicity  (Romanism)  has  triumphed;  therefore,  we  lose  the 
breath  we  expend  in  declaiming  against  bigotry  and  intolerance 
and  in  favor  of  religious  liberty,  or  the  right  of  any  man  to  be  of 
any  religion  as  best  pleases  him.  This  is  our  country;  as  it  is  to 
become  thoroughly  Catholic,  we  have  deeper  interests  in  its  public 
affairs  than  any  other  citizens. 

"Heretofore  we  have  taken  our  politics  from  one  or  another 
of  the  parties  which  divide  the  country  and  have  suffered  the 
enemies  of  our  religion  to  Impose  their  political  doctrines  upon 
us;  but  it  is  time  for  us  to  begin  to  teach  the  country  itself  those 


■NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  199 

moral  and  political  doctrines  which  flow  from  the  teachings  of  our 
own  Church." — Dr.  O.  A.  Brownson. 

In  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  this  high  dignitary  in  the 
Romish  Church,  we  find  also  Louis  Venillot,  editor  of  a  leading 
Catholic  paper,  The  Universe.  From  this  paper  we  make  the 
following  significant  extract : 

"A  Catholic  should  never  attach  himself  to  any  political  party 
composed  of  heretics  ( Protestants) .  No  one  who  is  truly  at  heart 
a  thorough  and  complete  Catholic  can  give  his  entire  adhesion  to 
a  Brotestant  leader;  for  in  so  doing  he  divides  his  allegiance, 
which  he  owes  entirely  to  the  Church." 

What  then,  can  the  American  people  expect  the  future  of 
this  government  to  be,  with  their  Congress  and  legislative  bodies 
made  up  largely  of  a  class  of  foreigners  whose  first  and  most  bind- 
ing oath  of  allegiance  is  to  the  Pope  of  Rome? 

But  we  close  this  chapter  with  a  quotation  from  St.  Thomas 
of  Aquinas,  one  of  the  foremost  in  the  catalogue  of  Saints,  to 
whom  every  Catholic  offers  prayer.  St.  Thomas  in  vol.  4,  p.  91, 
says : 

"If  the  Pope  should  curse  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  every  consistent  orthodox  Roman  Catholic  would  thereby 
be  absolved  from  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  government." 

What,  then,  is  our  security,  with  Cardinal  Gibbons  leading 
the  Democratic  Catholic  hosts,  with  Harrity,  a  member  of  the 
Baltimore  Catholic  congress,  as  chairman  of  the  Democratic  Na- 
tional Committee,  and  a  Catholic  for  its  secretary?  Or  as  if  to 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  with  Archbishop  Ireland  leading 
the  Republican  Catholic  hosts,  with  Carter,  a  devout  Catholic, 
as  chairman  of  the  Republican  National  Committee,  and  a  Catho- 


200  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

lie  its  secretary.  Let  the  reader  remember  the  words  of  the  New 
York  Tablet,  a  CathoHc  paper,  which  says : 

"The  Roman  CathoHc  citizen  of  the  United  States  owes  no 
allegiance  to  the  principles  of  the  government  which  are  con- 
demned by  the  Church  or  Pope." 

Let  him  also  remember  the  words  of  the  Romish  Bishop 
O'Connor,  who  says : 

"Religious  liberty  is  merely  endured  until  the  opposite  can 
be  carried  into  effect  without  peril  to  the  Catholic  Church." 

The  truth  of  this  purely  Romish,  utterance  by  Bishop  O'Cpn- 
nor  has  ben  re-echoed  by  the  wails  of  fifty  million  martyrs;  illum- 
inated by  the  fires  of  Smithfield,  groaned  from  the  dungeons  of 
the  inquisition,  gurgled  in  the  flowing  blood  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's day,  and  wailed  in  the  everlasting  anguish  of  the  damned 
as  the  echoed  mockeries  of  the  horrible  death  march  of  the  Popish 
Inquisition  mingle  their  shrieks  in  the  awful  uproar  of  hell's 
avenging  flames  . 


Pope  Leo,  who  rules  the  Catholic  world  with  a  rod  of  Iron, 


Chapter  XIII. 


Driven  to  a  Convent  for  Protection,  She  Finds 
Both  Misery  and  5hame. 


The  sorrows  of  poor  Henrietta  Caracciolo  causes  the  heart 
of  all  human  beings  to  ache  with  pain.  She  was  driven  from  her 
home  on  account  of  ill-treatment  and  entered  a  convent,  thinking 
to  find  a  haven  of  rest,  but  alas !  alas !  By  birth  she  was  connected 
with  the  best  families  of  Italy,  and  by  being  driven  from  home 
and  through  ignorance  of  the  future  was  induced  to  enter  a  con- 
vent, and  by  so  doing  she  has  opened  the  doors  of  the  cloisters, 
and  bade  us  look  with  our  own  eyes  into  them.  Her  womanly 
delicacy  has  partly  concealed  the  hideousness  which  she  has  not 
nakedly  disclosed ;  still  no  reader  of  "The  Mysteries  of  the  Neap- 
olitan Convents,"  of  ordinary  penetration,  can  fail  to  see  the 
awful  sufferings  of  which  these  places  are  the  abodes,  and  the 
shameful  wickedness  enacted  within  their  walls.  In  the  convent 
there  is  no  moral  light  and  air;  and  to  expect  love  to  blossom  in 
a  convent  is  like  expecting  color  in  the  darkness,  or  life  in  a  sep- 
ulchre.   The  heart,  finding  nothing  without,  turns  in  upon  itself. 


204  MNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

and  becomes  the  seat  of  foul  desires,  or  of  evil  passions.  Paul 
described  the  inhabitants  of  this  pandemonium  in  these  words: 
"Without  natural  affections,  implacable,  unmerciful."  Instead 
of  a  paradise  of  purity,  as  the  uninitiated  dream,  it  is  filled  with 
people  who  hiss  and  sting  like  serpents,  and  torment  one  another 
like  furies.  Their  vow,  which  makes  their  sufferings  perpetual, 
leaves  them  with  no  hope  of  escape,  except  in  the  grave.  "Never 
was  there  on  earth  slavery  more  foul  and  bitter,  and  never  was 
there  a  decree  more  humane  and  merciful  than  that  by  which 
Italy  declared  that  this  bondage  should  no  longer  disgrace  its 
soil,  or  oppress  its  children." 

When  sleepy,  old  Italy,  the  home  of  the  pope,  and  the  nur- 
sery of  Romish  schemes  and  popish  tyranny  arouses  herself  and 
clashes  with  the  pontifical  power  of  Rome,  the  protestants  the 
world  over  should  shake  off  the  yoke  of  Catholicism  that  lacerates 
the  neck  of  any  people  who  must  bear  its  ungodly  and  unholy 
burdens.  We  will  now  again  take  up  convent  life,  and  the  treat- 
ment that  poor,  miserable  girls  receive  who  have  been  enticed 
from  homes  of  luxuries,  and  the  guarding  care  of  fond  father^ 
and  mothers.  We  will  now  let  this  poor  girl  unfold  her  miserable 
life  in  her  own  way : 

"I  entered  a  convent,  not  from  choice,  but  I  thought  that  I 
could  better  my  condition,  as  my  family  relations  at  home  were 
indeed  disagreeable,  but,  oh,  God,  had  I  known  what  I  do  now, 
a  thousand  stepmothers  could  not  have  driven  me  from  my 
parental  roof.  At  the  beginning  the  vows  were  not  stringent, 
but  as  time  piled  up,  so  did  the  awfulness  of  convent  life,  and 
methinks  when  time  has  become  decrepit,  and  the  hand  of  the 
•great  Ruler  shall  have  crumbled  to  atoms  the  entire  world,  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM.  ^05 

darkest  page  ever  written  by  the  dark  deeds  of  all  mankind  will 
be  but  a  soiled  spot  to  the  iniquitous  deeds  of  Catholicism  in  con- 
vents. 

"At  the  outset  the  vows  were  temporary.  The  oblates  (lay 
sisters)  renewed  their  vows  each  year.  At  the  end  of  the  year 
they  could  select  any  other  condition.  They  maintained  themselves 
at  their  own  expense  until  theytook  the  veil,  afterwhich  the  estab- 
lishment provided  for  them.  At  this  time  they  enjoyed  the  repu- 
tation of  being  virtuous.  But  under  the  reign  of  Ferdinand,  the 
Catholic,  and  of  Charles  V,,  a  marked  change  came  over  the  re- 
lations which  the  nuns  maintained  with  the  people  of  the  world. 
*  *  *  It  was  then  that  the  most  potent,  those  who  were  in- 
vested with  distinctions  and  resplendent  with  the  brilliancy  of 
courts,  were  permitted  to  seduce  these  pious  women." 

Then  came  the  Aulic  Council.  The  Archbishop  of  Naples 
and  the  Nuncio  had  their  own  prisons,  in  which  they  kept  those 
they  sought. 

Every  church,  convent,  and  feudal  palace  enjoyed  the  privi- 
leges of  a  sanctuary,  and  retained  in  its  pay  the  most  nortorious 
bravos.  Then  came  the  Sicilian  Vespers  and  the  dark  deeds. 
Morality  was  banished.  Intrigue,  deception,  and  conspiracies, 
the  blackest  and  the  worst,  were  hatched.  A  father,  inhuman, 
capricious  and  avaricious,  threw  his  daughter  whose  support 
caused  him  embarrassment,  or  the  wife  whose  fidelity  was  sus- 
pected, into  a  convent.  In  those  days  the  condition  of  woman  was 
worse  than  in  Turkey.  "The  mere  shadow  of  suspicion;  a  cal- 
umnious accusation;  a  hallucination  begot  by  jealousy;  the  false 
deposition  of  a  rejected  lover — sufficed  to  assemble,  in  all  haste,  a 
family  council,  under  the  same  mysterious  circumstances  in  which 


206  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

the  Spanish  Inquisition  was  wont  to  envelop  its  tribunal,  when 
it  would  thunder  against  the  accused  that  sentence  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  prejudices  of  the  period,  could  alone  wipe  off  the  stain 
from  the  family  escutcheon  in  the  public  eye.  Nor,  to  wash  away 
the  stain,  often  imaginary,  did  they  know,  or  seek  to  know,  any 
other  means  than  through  blood.  Conformably  to  this  barbarous 
code,  the  woman,  if  living  in  the  house,  was  stabbed  or  strangled 
in  her  own  bed,  if  marriageable;  or  she  ,was  condemned  to  the 
civil  death  of  convent  seclusion." 

"The  confessional  boxes  in  the  convent  were  constructed  like 
small  closets,  carefully  curtained  on  all  sides,  and  furnished  with 
a  stool  on  which  the  penitent  could  sit  at  her  ease.  *Why  the 
stool?'  asked  Miss  Caracciolo.  'Because  it  is  not  possible  for  a 
nun  to  remain  two  or  three  hours  on  her  knees.'  'Why  are  two 
or  three  hours  required  to  tell  the  confessor  that  you  have  not 
wished  to  commit  a  sin  during  the  two  or  three  days  of  cloister 
life?'  *It  is  the  custom  of  the  world  to  make  a  confession  of  only 
a  few  moments ;  but  we  not  only  acknowledge  our  little  sins,  but 
we  intend,  besides,  that  our  confessor,  the  person  in  whom  we 
confide,  and  whom  we  have  chosen  for  that  purpose,  should  di- 
rect us  in  all  the  duties  of  our  daily  life.  To  him  we  confide  our 
thoughts  and  business  and  purposes — he  being  our  sole  friend, 
and  our  only  mediator  between  heaven,  the  world,  and  the  cloister, 
which  a  nun  is  permitted  to  have.  While  separated  from  the 
world,  we  find,  in  the  intimacy  which  subsists  between  us,  a  per- 
sonification of  the  universe  in  compensation  for  our  solitude.  In 
short,  after  God,  the  confessor  is  all  in  all  for  us.'  " 

'The  next  day  he  told  me  that  in  the  convent  it  was  impera- 
tive to  take  the  communion  every  day,  and  that  it  required  nearly 


mNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  207 

the  whole  day.  I  begged  a  release.  Later  in  the  day,  the  priest, 
about  fifty,  very  corpulent,  with  a  rubicund  face  and  a  type  of 
physiognomy  as  vulgar  as  it  was  repulsive,  put  the  wafer  on  my 
tongue,  and  caressed  my  chin.  On  opening  my  eyes  suddenly,  I 
found  the  priest  gazing  rudely  upon  me,  with  a  sensual  smile  upon 
his  face."  These  overtures  meant  much.  "It  occurred  to  me  to 
place  myself  in  a  contiguous  apartment,  where  I  could  observe  if 
this  libertine  priest  was  accustomed  to  take  similar  liberties  with 
the  nuns.  I  did  so,  and  was  fully  convinced  that  the  old  only  left 
him  without  being  caressed.  All  the  others  allowed  him  to  do 
with  them  as  he  pleased;  and  even  in  taking  leave  of  him  did  so 
with  the  utmost  reverence." 

This  opened  the  eyes  of  Miss  Caracciolo,  and  she  determined 
never  to  take  the  veil.  Efforts  were  made  to  change  her  mind. 
A  young  priest  was  given  her  as  a  confessor.  He  questioned  her 
as  to  her  loves  and  of  her  history.  She  confessed  to  having  been 
forsaken.  Then  came  the  priest  to  her  side.  He  said:  "The 
world  has  abandoned  you.  The  heavenely  Spouse  opens  the  door 
of  his  house  to  you.  offers  to  embrace  you  in  his  arms  v/ith  ten- 
derness, and  anxiously  awaits  you,  to  make  you  forget,  in  the 
sublime  comforts  of  his  love,  the  discords  of  men.  Remember, 
the  priest  is  the  representative  of  Christ,"  and  proposed  to  em- 
brace her  with  his  arms.  She  scorned  and  upbraided  him.  Some 
nuns  hate,  while  others  love.  He  continued  a  long  time,  playing 
upon  the  same  pipe,  which  she  thought  tedious  and  stupid.  Final- 
ly she  interrupted  him  by  saying,  "Is  it,  or  is  it  not,  true  that 
man  was  created  for  humanity?  If,  as  you  say,  the  family  of 
Christ  be  restricted  to  this  little  community,  why  was  the  Son  of 
.God  crucified  for  the  salvation  of  the  whole  human  race?    It  is 


^8         mNETEBNTH  CBNTURY  DEEDS  OF  kOMANISM, 

said,  that,  to  be  contented  with  sohtude,  it  is  necessary  to  be 
either  God  or  brute.  Now,  I  have  not  arrived  at  the  elevation  of 
the  Deity,  nor  yet  to  the  condition  of  the  brute.  I  love  the  world, 
and  take  pleasure  in  the  society  of  my  friends.  Besides,  I  do  not 
believe  that  you  yourself  have  a  horror  of  human  society;  be- 
cause, if  it  were  so,  you  would,  ere  this,  have  become  a  monk  at 
least,  if  not  an  anchorite." 

A  Madalena,  thinking  that  Miss  Caracciolo  had  captured  her 
priest  and  lover,  on  meeting  her  became  livid  in  the  face,  and 
rudely  turned  her  back  upon  her.  Another  came  and  said,  "She 
forced  her  confessor  upon  you,  and  now  she  is  crying  and  desper- 
ate with  jealousy."  Miss  Caracciolo  dismissed  the  new  canonico. 
He  wQuld  not  be  dismissed.  She  begged  him  to  give  his  atten- 
tion to  others.  He  revealed  his  intention  to  dismiss  the  other 
nun.  The  result  was,  that  in  the  afternoon  she  heard  a  great 
noise  in  the  corridor.  On  going  out,  she  found  that  the  Madalena 
was  in  the  centre  of  a  group  of  excited  nuns,  waving  a  letter. 
The  noise  increased;  the  whole  community  assembled.  In  the 
confusion  of  the  revolt,  but  one  single  word  could  be  distin- 
guished, and  that,  a  thousand  times  repeated,  was  the  word 
"canonico." 

Meanwhile  the  old  abbess,  leaning  upon  the  arm  of  one  of  the 
edticandCj  came  up  to  the  scene  of  the  riot  to  appease  Madalena, 
and  promised  her  that  the  canonico  should  no  longer  confess  Miss 
Caracciolo,  and  that  she  herself  would  find  another  confessor  for 
her. 

"Will  you  give  me  your  word  for  that  ?"  cried  the  infuriated 
Madalena,  whilst  the  seventy  other  mouths  around  her  remained 
closed  awaiting  in  silence  the  answer.  "Hold  me  pledged,"  re- 
plied the  abbess. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  209 

"Bravo !  Bravo !"  exclaimed  the  nuns  in  chorus,  while  the 
Madalena  exclaimed,  "It  was  insupportable  for  me  to  see  him  shut 
up  in  the  confessional  with  another."  That  is  a  picture  of  the 
best  side  of  convent  life  in  Italy.  Priests  and  nuns  passed  whole 
days  in  each  other's  company,  in  love-making  and  in  lazy  enjoy- 
ment. 

"Another  nun  had  loved  a  priest  ever  since  he  had  served  in 
the  church  as  an  acolyte.  Arriving  at  the  priesthood,  he  was 
made  sacristan ;  but,  his  companions  denouncing  him  for  the  inti- 
macy which  subsisted  between  him  and  this  nun,  he  was  forbid- 
den by  his  superior  ever  to  pass  through  the  street  in  which  the 
convent  was  situated.  The  nun  remained  faithful,  wrote  him 
every  day,  sent  presents  to  him,  and  managed  to  meet  him  from 
time  to  time  secretly  in  the  parlatorio.  The  superior  being  finally 
changed,  the  nun,  although  she  now  had  arrived  at  mature  age, 
succeeded  in  securing  him  for  a  confessor."  "She  celebrated  the 
event  as  she  would  a  marriage,  gave  gifts  and  flowers  to  her 
patron  saint,  and  built  at  her  own  expense  a  confessional  where 
she  might  have  him  to  herself  whenever  they  were  inclined." 

A  letter  sent  by  one  of  "the  spouses  of  Christ"  to  a  priest 
was  dropped  in  the  street.  A  gentleman  picked  it  up,  and  said, 
"A  common  courtesan  would  make  use  of  more  modest  lan- 
guage." 

"I  received  myself,  from  an  impertinent  monk,  a  letter,  in 
which  he  signified  to  me  that  he  had  hardly  seen  me,  when  he 
conceived  the  szveet  hope  of  becoming  my  confessor.  An  exquis- 
ite of  the  first  water,  a  man  of  scents  and  euphuism,  could  not 
have  employed  phrases  more  melodramatic,  to  demand  whether 
he  might  hope  or  despair." 

(14) 


210  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

"  'Fair  daughter/  said  a  priest  to  me  one  day,  'knowest 
thou  who  God  truly  is?' — *He  is  the  Creator  of  the  universe,'  I 
answered  dryly. 

"  'No,  no,  no,  no !  that  is  not  enough,'  he  replied,  laughing 
at  my  ignorance.  'God  is  love,  but  love  in  the  abstract,  which 
receives  its  incarnation  in  the  mutual  affection  of  two  hearts 
which  idolize  each  other;  you  then  must  not  only  love  God  in 
his  abstract  existence,  but  must  also  love  Him  in  His  incarnation, 
that  is,  in  the  exclusive  love  of  a  man  who  adores  you.' — 'Then,' 
I  replied,  'a  woman  who  adores  her  own  lover,  would  adore  Di- 
vinity himself.' 

"  'Assuredly,  reiterated  the  priest,  over  and  over  again, 
taking  courage  from  my  remark,  and  chuckling  at  what  seemed 
to  him  to  be  the  effects  of  his  catechism. 

"  'In  that  case,'  said  I  hastily,  'I  should  select  for  my  lover 
rather  a  man  of  the  world  than  a  priest.' 

"  'God  preserve  you,  my  daughter !  God  preserve  you  from 
that  sin!  To  love  a  man  of  the  world,  a  sinner,  a  wretch,  an 
unbeliever,  an  infidel!  why,  you  would  go  immediately  to  hell! 
The  love  of  a  priest  is  a  sacred  love,  while  that  of  the  profane 
is  infamy;  the  faith  of  a  priest  emanates  from  that  granted  to 
the  Holy  Church,  while  that  of  the  profane  is  false, — false  as  is 
the  vanity  of  the  century.  The  priest  purifies  his  affection  daily 
in  communion  with  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  man  of  the  world,  if  he 
ever  knows  love  at  all,  sweeps  the  muddy  crossings  of  the  street 
with  it  day  and  night.'  'But  it  is  the  heart  as  well  as  the  con- 
science which  prompts  me  to  fly  from  the  priests,'  I  replied. 

"  'Well,  if  you  will  not  love  me  because  I  am  your  con- 
fessor, I  will  find  means  to  assist  you  to  get  rid  of  your  scruples. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  211 

We  will  place  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  before  all  our  affection- 
ate demonstrations;  and  thus  our  love  will  be  a  grateful  offering 
to  the  Lord,  and  will  ascend  fragrant  with  perfume  to  heaven, 
like  the  smoke  of  the  incense  of  the  sanctuary.  Say  to  me,  for 
example,  I  love  you  in  Jesus  Christ ;  this  night  I  dreamed  of  you 
in  Jesus  Christ;  and  you  will  have  a  tranquil  conscience,  because, 
in  doing  this,  you  will  sanctify  every  transport.'  "  This  is  in 
line  with  the  priests'  substitution  for  marriage. 

''Of  a  very  respectable  monk,  respectable  alike  for  his  age 
and  moral  character,  I  inquired  what  signified  the  prefixing  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  amorous  apostrophes. 

"  It  is,'  said  he,  'an  expression  used  by  a  horrible  company, 
unfortunately  only  too  numerous,  which,  thus  abusing  the  name 
of  our  Lord,  permits  to  its  members  the  most  unbridled  licen- 
tiousness.' " 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  Italy  in  the  olden  time  the  priests 
had  a  substitution  for  marriage,  as  they  have  at  this  time  in  our 
land.  And  why  not?  It  is  the  same  tree  there  as  here.  Why 
not  bear  the  same  kind  of  fruit  ? 

Garibaldi  had  entered  Naples  in  triumph.  While  the  priests 
of  San  Gennaro,  in  order  to  avoid  the  solemnity  of  a  Te  Deum, 
and  to  escape  the  customary  prayers,  "Save  thy  people,  and  thy 
patrimony,  O  God,"  detained  Garibaldi,  Henrietta  Caracciolo 
took  off  her  veil  from  her  head,  and  deposited  on  the  altar  what 
had  been  given  her  twenty  years  before.  A  free  woman  she 
went  forth  into  a  free  world,  uncontaminated  by  priests  because 
by  God's  help  she  stood  her  ground  against  them.  Finally  she 
met  a  man  to  love  and  to  be  loved.  They  were  married,  and  she 
writes,  *T  find  myself  in  the  state  in  which  God  placed  woman  at 


212  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

the  close  of  his  first  week  of  the  creation.  Why,  fulfiUing  the 
offices  of  a  good  wife,  of  a -good  mother,  of  a  good  citizen — why 
may  I  not  aspire  even  to  the  treasury  of  the  Divine  Confession?" 

She  stepped  out  of  the  convent.  The  curse  remains.  It  is 
the  same  at  this  hour  wherever  they  exist  in  fact  as  in  name.  As 
a  prioress  said,  "The  priests  deceive  the  innocent,  and  even  those 
that  are  more  circumspect;  and  it  would  need  a  miracle  to  con- 
verse with  them  and  not  fall.  Poor  creatures!  many  of  them 
think  they  are  leaving  the  world  to  escape  danger,  and  they  only 
meet  with  greater  danger.  Do  not  suppose  this  is  the  case  in 
one  convent  alone.  Everywhere  it  is  the  same;  everywhere  the 
same  disorders,  everywhere  the  same  abuses,  prevail.  Let  the 
superiors  suspect  as  they  may,  they  do  not  know  even  the  smallest 
part  of  the  enormous  wickedness  that  goes  on  between  the  monks 
and  the  nuns." 

Such  was  the  profligacy  of  priors  and  nuns,  as  Llorenti  in- 
forms us,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  that  the  Pope,  from  very 
shame,  had  to  take  notice  of  it.  He  had  to  invest  the  Inquisition 
with  special  power  to  take  cognizance  of  the  matter.  The  inqui- 
sitors, in  obedience  to  orders  from  their  sovereign  Pope,  entered 
immediately  upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties.  They  issued, 
through  their  immediate  superior,  a  general  order  commanding 
all  women,  nuns,  and  lay  sisters,  married  women  and  single 
women,  without  regard  to  age,  station  in  life,  or  any  other  cur- 
cumstance,  to  appear  before  them,  and  give  information,  if  any 
they  had,  against  all  priests,  Jesuits,  monks,  priors,  and  con- 
fessors. The  Pope  got  more  than  he  bargained  for.  Supposing 
that  the  licentiousness  of  his  priests  did  not  extend  beyond  women 
of  ill-famC;  he  summoned  all  to  come.    Disobedience  was  heresy, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  213 

and  heresy  was  death.  The  accusers  came,  not  singly,  but  in 
batallions.  The  number  who  made  their  appearance  to  lodge 
information,  in  the  single  city  of  Seville,  Spain,  was  so  great, 
that  the  taking  of  depositions  occupied  twenty  notaries  for  thirty 
days. 

The  inquisitors,  worn  out  with  fatigue,  determined  on  taking 
a  recess;  and,  having  done  so,  they  re-assembled,  and  devoted 
thirty  days  more  to  the  same  purpose;  but  the  depositions  con- 
tinued to  increase  so  fast,  that  they  saw  no  use  continuing  them, 
and  they  finally  resolved  to  adjourn,  and  quash  the  inquiry.  The 
country  was  found  to  be  one  vast  area  of  pollution.  This 
Church,  so  polluted,  and  so  vile,  is  reckoned  by  many  as  one  of 
the  religious  denominations.  These  priests,  and  priests  as  de- 
based and  vile,  are  called  in  the  United  states,  by  so-called  Chris- 
tians, "ministers  of  God !"  The  ignorance  of  the  average  profess- 
ing Christian  in  America  concerning  Romanism,  what  it  was  and 
is,  surprises  those  who  have  studied  the  character  of  Papal  life, 
and  the  blindness  of  the  people  who  ought  to  be  better  informed. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  this  belonged  to  a  past  age.  Priests, 
nuns,  and  confessors  are  the  same  now  that  they  were  in  the  fif- 
teenth century  all  over  the  world.  Whoever  visits  Paris  will 
find  a  lying-in  hospital  attached  to  every  nunnery.  The  same  is 
to  be  seen  in  Madrid  and  the  principal  cities  of'  Spain,  in  Mexico, 
and  in  Dublin,  Ireland.  What  is  the  object  of  these  hospitals? 
Let  William  Hogan,  the  ex-priest,  answer. 

The  object  is  to  provide  for  the  illicit  offspring  of  priests 
and  nuns  and  such  other  unmarried  females  as  the  priests  can 
seduce  through  the  confessional.  But,  it  will  be  said,  there  are 
no  lying-in  hospitals  attached  to  nunneries  in  tjiis  country.    True, 


214  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

there  are  not;  but  I  say,  of  my  own  knowledge  and  from  my  own 
experience  through  the  confessional,  that  it  would  be  well  if  there 
were;  there  would  be  fewer  abortions,  there  would  be  fewer 
infants  strangled  and  murdered.  It  is  not  generally  known  that 
the  crime  of  procuring  abortion — a  crime  which  our  laws  pro- 
nounce to  be  felony — is  a  common  offence  in  Popish  nunneries. 
In  Kings  County  Penitentiary  is  a  woman  who  has  been  in  prison 
twenty  years  for  infanticide,  and  who  is  condemned  to  stay  there 
for  life.  That  which  is  a  crime  in  the  State  is  a  practice  in  the 
convents.  Luther,  in  his  "Table  Talk,"  says  that  in  his  time  a 
pool  was  cleaned  out  in  the  vicinity  of  a  convent,  and  the  bottom 
was  almost  literally  paved  with  the  bones  of  infants. 

Any  scoundrel  tired  of  a  woman  can  embrace  the  relig5ous 
state,  enter  a  monastery,  and  be  rid  of  her,  though  he  has  ruined 
her  under  promise  of  marriage.  Statistics  prove  that  in  no  city 
is  there  so  great  a  number  of  children  born  out  of  wedlock  as  in 
Rome,  and  it  is  in  Rome  also  that  the  greatest  number  of  infanti- 
cides take  place.  This  must  ever  be  the  case  with  a  wealthy  un- 
married priesthood  and  a  poor  and  ignorant  population. 

In  Rome  there  are  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  monks  and 
nuns  condemned  to  the  material  interests  of  the  Vatican,  k)  an 
impossible  chastity,  to  violence  against  nature,  for  which  she 
avenges  herself  by  treading  under  her  feet  morality,  and  com- 
pelling families  and  the  state  to  bear  the  consequences  of  this  con- 
dition of  violence  in  which  the  Church  has  placed  it.  Humanity 
and  morality  are  paying  the  cost  in  Europe  of  eight  centuries  of 
temporal  power,  of  the  ambition  of  the  pontificate,  and  from  it 
come"  the  blood-stains  that  disgrace  the  Eternal  City. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  215 

The  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents 
receives  the  sanction  of  Rome,  The  modus  operandi  is  this.  The 
infalHble  Church  teaches  that  without  baptism  even  infants  can- 
not go  to  heaven.  The  holy  Church,  not  caring  much  how  the 
aforesaid  infants  may  come  into  this  world,  but  anxious  that 
they  should  go  out  of  it  according  to  the  ritual  of  the  Church,  in- 
sists that  the  infant  shall  be  baptized.  That  being  done,  and  its 
soul  being  thus  fitted  for  heaven,  the  mother  abbess  generally 
takes  between  her  holy  fingers  the  nostrils  of  the  infant,  and  in 
the  name  of  the  infallible  Church  consigns  it  to  the  care  of  the 
Almighty;  and  I  beg  to  state,  from  my  own  personal  knowledge 
through  the  confessional,  that  the  father  is,  in  nearly  all  cases, 
the  individual  who  baptizes  it.  I  desire  to  assert  nothing  of  a 
character  as  frightful  and  disgusting  as  this  on  my  own  authority. 
I  could  give  numberless  instances;  let  this  suffice. 

Llorenti,  in  his  "History  of  the  Inquisition,"  relates  the 
following:  'There  was  among  the  Carmelite  nuns  of  Lerma  a 
mother  abbess  called  Mother  Aguecla,  who  was  accounted  a 
saint.  People  came  to  her  from  all  the  neighboring  country  to 
be  cured  of  their  respective  diseases.  Her  mode  of  curing  all 
diseases  was  this.  She  had  in  her  possession  a  number  of  small 
stones,  of  which  she  said  she  was  delivered  in  all  the  pains  of 
childbirth.  She  was  delivered  of  them  periodically  for  the  space 
of  twenty  years,  according  to  her  own  statement;  and,  by  the 
application  of  these  stones  to  any  diseased  person,  he  was  forth- 
with cured.  Rumor,  however,  got  abroad  that  the  mother  abbess 
Vas  no  better  than  she  ought  to  be,'  and  that  she  and  the  other 
nuns  of  the  convent  were  bringing  forth  children  for  the  friars  of 
the  Carmelite  order,  who  arranged  all  her  miracles  for  her,  and 


216  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


enabled  her  for  twenty  years  to  impose  upon  the  public  as  the 
lady  prioress  of  a  nunnery  and  fashionable  boarding-school. 
^Vhenever  she  was  confined  and  delivered  of  a  child,  the  holy 
nuns  strangled  it,  and  burned  it.  All  the  other  nuns  did  likewise, 
and  probably  would  have  continued  to  do  so  through  their  suc- 
cessors until  this  day,  had  not  the  neice  of  the  mother  abbess,  in  a 
moment  of  anger,  arising  from  maltreatment,  let  fall  some  obser- 
vations which  excited  the  suspicions  of  the  public  authorities. 
The  burying  ground  of  the  nuns  was  examined ;  the  spot  where 
the  strangled  infants  were  buried  was  pointed  out  by  the  niece  of 
the  mother  abbess,  and  the  bodies  found." 

It  is  said  that  a  chemical  process  has  been  discovered  by 
v/hich  the  bones,  as  well  as  the  flesh  of  infants,  are  reduced  in  a 
little  time  almost  to  perfect  annihilation.  This  helps  on  the  in- 
iquity. Maria  Monk  will  tell  how  this  was  managed  in  Montreal. 

"Virtuous  ladies,"  says  William  Hogan,  "into  whose  hands 
this  statement  will  come,  will  exclaim  on  reading  it,  'This  cannot 
be  true.  If  even  nuns  had  witnessed  such  things,  however  de- 
praved they  may  be,  they  would  fly  from  such  scenes;  or,  at  all 
events,  no  nun  who  has  ever  been  once  guilty  of  such  conduct 
would  consent  a  second  time.'  Here,  again,  we  see  how  little  Ameri- 
cans know  of  popery  and  of  the  practices  of  priests  and  nuns." 
The  fact  is,  Roman  Catholic  laymen  know  almost  as  little  of 
popery  as  Protestants.  When  a  female  goes  to  the  confessional, 
she  virtually  binds  herself  to  answer  every  question  which  her 
confessor  proposes,  and  that  the  concealment  of  any  thought  or 
deed  which  she  committed  was  a  mortal  sin,  hateful  to  God,  and 
deserving  of  an  eternal  hell. 

She  believes  that  the  priest  sits  in  the  confessional  with  all 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  217 

the  power  of  Grod,  divest  of  all  human  sins,  and  firmly  believes 
that  it  is  an  absolute  impossibility  for  him  to  err.  In  the  name 
of  liberty,  in  the  name  of  everything  that  is  American,  why  will 
not  the  American  public  awake.  We  are  now  hard  up  against  a 
proposition  of  Romish  supremacy,  or  American  independence. 
Which  will  you  choose,  Americans  ?  Will  you  stand  idly  by  and 
see  everything  that  is  near  and  dear  to  our  free  and  independent 
institutions  throttled  by  a  foreign  hand  ?  Oh,  I  am  in  the  deepest 
earnest.  Gladly  would  I  suffer  my  life's  blood  to  ebb  my  soul 
into  eternity  if  I  knew  that  by  so  doing  that  it  would  paralize  the 
arm  of  heartless  Catholicism  upon  our  shores.  Arouse  your- 
selves for  the  interest  you  have  in  humanity.  You  may  say  that 
I  am  not  afraid  of  any  of  my  family  ever  becoming  Catholics. 
This  may  never  happen,  but  have  you  no  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  your  neighbor's  daughter?  Can  you  calmly  lounge  upon  the 
security  of  your  own  family,  while  upon  every  hand  you  see  your 
neighbors'  children  felled  by  the  lustful  hand  of  Catholicism? 
I  believe  the  time  has  come  when  it  is  the  duty  of  every  liberty- 
loving  American  to  see  that  no  man  is  elevated  to  office  without 
first  obtaining  a  solemn  vow  that  no  Catholic  will  be  given  an 
appointment  at  his  hands.  The  only  way  to  remedy  a  wrong  is 
to  right  it,  and  the  only  way  to  right  it,  is  by  destroying  the  cause 
that  leads  to  the  wrong  doing. 


Ex-President  U.  S.  Grant  in  his  message  of  1875  said,   "Tlie  vast  property 
held  by  Catholic  churches  without  taxation,  will  lead  to  bloodshed. 


Chapter  XIV. 

Life  in  a  Convent  as  Told  by  an  Inmate. 


I  am  the  eldest  of  six  children,  and  was  born  upon  the  un- 
happy island  of  Cuba,  of  respectable  parents,  my  father  being  a 
native  of  Spain,  and  my  mother  of  Cuba.  In  my  mother's  youth 
she  was  considered  a  great  beauty  by  the  natives,  and,  in  fact, 
by  every  one  who  saw  her,  and  was  greatly  admired  by  many  rich 
and  influential  foreigners,  but  married  my  father,  greatly  to  the 
dislike  of  her  parents.  From  my  childhood  I  was  daily  instructed 
by  mother,  who  instilled  in  my  very  soul  a  deep  reverence  for  the 
ignominious  traditions  of  Catholicism  and  the  Romish  faith. 

I  was  partly  educated  in  Protestant  schools,  and  there  bit- 
terly opposed  every  slight  remark  made  against  my  religious 
superstitions.  I  thought  so  much  of,  and  believed  so  tenaciously 
in  the  Catholic  religion,  that  I  would  have  given  my  life  foi'  its 
preservation,  for  the  defense  of  its  purity,  as  I  then  thought.  I 
was  always  a  good  girl  by  inclination  from  early  childhood.  I 
had  a  desire  for  better  things  than  follies  of  society  and  the  silly 
unholy  world.    Earthly  pleasures  failed  to  fill  the  void  in  my  heart 


220  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


— indeed,  that  heart  is  narrow  which  can  be  filled  by  aught  save 
the  perfect  love  of  God.  I  sought  peace  at  the  shrine  of  the  Vir- 
gin Mary  and  the  Saints,  at  the  confessional ;  in  the  confraterni- 
ties of  scapulars  and  rosaries,  but  all  in  vain.  I  could  find  no 
abiding  place  in  Christ.  My  senses  were  charmed  with  the  im- 
posing forms  and  ceremonies,  the  music,  flowers,  candles,  pic- 
tures, and  beautiful  images,  which  constitute  the  worship  of 
Roman  Catholics,  but  possessing  an  instructed  intelligence,  my 
soul  remained  empty.  Were  I  a  mere  being  of  sense,  only,  I 
might  have  been  satisfied. 

In  1897,  I  visited  friends,  and  was  away  from  home  for 
some  time,  and  endeavored  to  find  gay  and  giddy  companions, 
and  forget  my  religion  and  devote  myself  to  worldly  pleasures. 
But  my  heart  and  soul  became  disgusted  and  wearied  with  the 
emptiness  and  vanity  of  such  a  life.  I  was  certainly  created  to 
be  something  more  than  a  mere  votary  of  fashion  and  folly.  How- 
ever, a  change  was  near.  The  15th  of  August  is  observed  as  a 
holy  day  among  Catholics,  for  honoring  the  Assumption  of  Mary 
into  Heaven.  I  attended  mass  that  morning  at  a  beautiful 
Church;  in  the  afternoon  I  went  to  confession,  to  a  priest  who 
was  visiting  at  that  time  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  Father 
Versani,  who  was  then  in  poor  health.  In  obedience  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Catholic  Church,  wlhich  enjoins  penitents  to  disclose  to 
their  confessor  every  secret,  no  matter  what  the  nature  the  sin.  I 
told  him  I  derived  no  pleasure  in  either  the  worship  of  God  or  in 
the  society  of  the  world.  He  advised  me  in  the  most  affectionate 
manner,  even  going  so  far  as  placing  his  arm  around  my  waist, 
and  kissing  me  several  times,  as  he  said,  with  a  holy  kiss.  He 
said  that  I  was  above  the  common  things  of  the  world,  and  ad- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  ttl 

vised  me  to  enter  a  convent,  as  the  Lord  had  called  me  to  be  a 
bride  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  no  man  was  good  enough  for  me.  He 
told  me  that  I  would  soar  high  above  all  human  beings,  and  he 
knew  from  my  angelic  face  and  beautiful  form  that  God  had  in- 
tended me  to  be  a  nun. 

He  advised  me  to  read  the  writings  of  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori, 
especially  the  "Nun  Purified."  This  saint  extols  virgins  conse- 
crated to  God,  and  says  of  all  happy  states,  the  vocation  of  a  nun 
is  the  most  perfect  and  sublime,  because  their  affections  are  not 
fixed  on  their  families,  nor  on  men  of  the  world,  nor  on  goods  of 
the  earth,  nor  on  the  dress  and  vanities  of  women;  they  are  un- 
shackled by  worldly  ties,  by  subjection  to  friends  or  relatives,  and 
are  removed  from  the  noise  and  tumult  of  the  "wicked  world." 

I  was  then  nineteen  years  of  age,  an  age  when  the  heart  is 
most  susceptible  to  those  impressions  which  may  be  called 
romantic  or  sentimental.  Naturally  possessing  an  impulsive  and 
enthusiastic  nature,  I  was  filled  with  a  desire  to  make  some  great 
sacrifice  to  God,  and  I  listened  with  pleasure  to  the  advice  of  my 
confessor.  Thenceforth  I  began  to  lead  a  new  life.  I  would 
spend  most  of  the  day  in  the  church.  I  took  great  delight  in  self- 
imposed  penances,  such  as  fasting  every  day  on  one  meal,  and 
abstaining  from  everything  that  would  afford  my  physical  senses 
delight.  I  would  remain  hours  together  in  prayer,  and  often  ex- 
perienced great  consolation  and  ecstacies  therefrom.  In  the  con- 
fessional I  would  speak  of  the  visions,  ecstacies  and  spiritual  con- 
solations I  experienced  in  prayer,  and  of  my  great  desire  of  self 
abnegation.  My  confessor  flattered  me  in  my  delusion,  telling  me 
that  the  Lord  had  endowed  my  soul  with  His  highest  gifts,  and 
He  had  designed  me  from  all  eternity  to  become  a  great  saint, 


222  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


"and  all  visions,  ecstacies,  and  self-annihilation,  came  from  God, 
and  denoted  great  sanctity."  At  the  same  time  he  urged  me  to 
hasten  my  entrance  into  a  convent,  because,  if  I  delayed  long  in 
the  world,  God  would  withdraw  from  me  those  heavenly  gifts. 

I  now  look  back  and  regret  the  precious  time  wasted  in  the 
observance  of  these  most  superstitious  doings  and  unprofitable 
devotions.  In  the  true  light  of  God,  I  can  now  attribute  all  of  the 
consolation  I  received  to  naught  but  spiritual  pride.  I  thought 
that  I  was  a  model  of  humanity,  but  I  was  only  fishing  for  a  few 
soft  words  from  the  abominable  priest. 

Being  naturally  possessed  of  strong  affections,  as  most 
Southern  women  are,  I  endured  the  greater  pain  and  anguish  as 
soon  as  I  had  fully  made  up  my  mind  to  forever  turn  my  back 
upon  home  and  loved  ones,  and  enter  a  convent.  The  love  I  bore 
my  mother  amounted  almost  to  idolatry,  and  the  thought  of  a 
separation  from  her  was  death  in  itself.  How  could  I  leave  her, 
never  again  to  see  her  dear  face,  nor  hear  her  beloved  voice  ?  All 
else  I  could  give  up,  but  my  mother,  never !  It  would  break  my 
heart  to  leave  my  own  dear  gentle  mother. 

»  This  thought  of  being  forever  separated  from  my  beloved 
mother  would  sometimes  fill  my  soul  with  doubts  and  murmur- 
ings  against  God.  Why  could  I  not  love  God  and  arrive  at  sanc- 
tity without  breaking  the  holiest  of  earthly  ties?  Why  had  God 
given  me  such  an  affectionate  nature,  if  it  was  unlawful  for  me  to 
exercise  it?  Why  must  I  crush  and  blight  my  life  and  talents 
within  the  gloomy  walls  of  the  cloister  ?  Why  bury  my  heart  in 
a  living  sepulchre?  Why  shut  out  from  myself  every  object  of 
beauty  and  love  that  the  hand  of  God  had  formed?  Was  not 
such  a  God  more  an  arbitrary  tyrant  than  a  God  of  mercy  and 
love  ? 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  223 

I  often  experienced  such  rebellious  reflections  as  the  above, 
and  as  in  duty  bound,  discovered  them  to  my  confessor.  He 
would  tell  me  such  thoughts  were  wicked  temptations  from  the 
devil,  who  would  fain  cheat  me  of  my  holy  calling  and  perfect 
devotion  to  the  religious  life,  by  attacking  me  in  the  weakest 
point,  my  ardent  affection.  My  spiritual  director  chided  severely 
my  weakness  in  listening  for  one  moment  to  the  suggestions  of 
the  "evil  one;"  telling  me  I  must  choose  between  God  and  my 
mother.  I  could  not  serve  both,  and  if  I  made  choice  of  the  latter, 
would  lose  my  immortal  soul,  and  be  damned,  quoting  the  pass- 
age, "whoever  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me,  is  not 
worthy  to  be  my  disciple."  I  thought  God  required  the  sacrifice 
and  I  made  it.  The  next  difficulty  I  had  was  to  gain  the  consent 
of  my  parents,  which  I  for  a  long  time  failed  to  do,  as  I  had  a 
lovable  disposition,  and  it  was  like  tearing  their  hearts  out  to  have 
me  forever  leave  them,  I  told  the  priest  that  my  parents  would 
not  consent  for  me  to  enter  a  convent,  and  imagine  my  surprise 
when  he  told  me  to  leave  without  their  approval.  He  advised  me 
that  he  was  my  adviser,  and  I  and  my  parents  both  belonged  to 
him,  therefore  he  was  the  one  for  me  to  obey.  He  condemned 
my  parents,  and  called  them  "agents  of  the  devil,"  in  trying  to 
rob  God  of  my  soul. 

My  father  seeing  my  determination  to  enter  a  convent,  re- 
luctantly gave  his  consent,  comforting  himself  with  the  reflection 
that  I  would  be  numbered  with  the  elect — fighting  the  good  fight 
— one  of  the  "chosen  few."  After  one  year  spent  in  prayer  and 
meditation  on  the  important  step  I  was  about  to  take,  the  eventful 
day  arrived  when  I  muse  separate  myself  from  all  I  loved  on 


224  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

earth,  all  the  happy  and  dear  associations  of  my  innocent  girl- 
hood. 

The  first  of  October  was  my  last  day  at  home,  the  last  day 
spent  in  the  society  of  my  dear  parents,  my  little  brothers  and 
sisters,  my  beloved  associates — the  last  day  of  happiness  for 
weary,  weary  years  of  desolation.  I  cannot  now  recall  that  day 
without  the  deepest  emotion.  Oh,  why  did  I  first  break  up  the 
family  circle?  Why  did  I  impose  upon  myself  such  a  living 
death?  Why  did  I  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  my  heart,  and  of 
reason  ?  But,  alas !  it  is  too  late  now  to  repine,  the  fiat  hath  gone 
forth  and  can  never  be  revoked. 

I  must  now  take  the  final  farewell  of  the  home  circle.  All 
are  there,  but  in  a  few  moments  one  will  be  absent,  never  again 
to  take  her  accustomed  place  among  them.  I  kneel  at  my  father's 
knee  to  receive  his  blessing,  ere  I  leave  him  forever — oh,  forever. 

Once  again  I  lean  upon  my  idolized  mother's  breast;  for  the 
last  time  I  kiss  my  dear  sisters  that  had  shared  all  my  childhood 
joys,  and  now  for  the  last  time  I  stoop  to  kiss  my  baby  brother 
who  calmly  sleeps  in  his  little  cradle;  I  see  the  stern  countenance 
of  father  grow  to  an  ashy  white,  the  large  brown  eyes  of  mother 
swims  in  tears,  the  suppressed  sobs  of  brothers  and  sisters  are 
heard  on  every  hand,  but  as  I  thought  then,  I  must  leave  them  in 
order  to  save  my  soul.  Oh,  it  had  been  better  that  at  that  moment 
the  earth  had  opened  and  swallowed  me.  The  time  comes,  and  I 
bid  farewell  to  every  dear  object.  Farewell  father,  mother, 
brothers  and  sisters!  farewell  to  playmates!  farewell,  farewell 
forever!    All  are  in  tears. 

I  at  last  tear  from  my  mother's  embrace,  and  leave  her  weep- 
ing as  none  but  a  mother  can  weep.  Oh,  mother !  dear  mother, 


NmETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  225 

better  a  thousand,  yea  ten  thousand  times  for  you  and  for  me 
could  you  have  seen  me  carried  to  my  grave  than  to  the  wrongs 
and  sufferings  that  awaited  me  in  the  living  tomb  in  the  convent. 
Farewell  father!  farewell  mother!  farewell  happiness! 
dear  earth,  farewell ! 


am 


■*-> 

B3 

o 


S 

o 


Chapter  XV. 

Off  to  the  Convent. 

A  TALE  OF  MISERY  TOIyD  BY  A  CUBAN   GIRL. 


I  arrived  at  the  convent  in  due  time  without  anything  hap- 
pening out  of  the  ordinary.  The  main  building,  generally  known 
as  "Rondo  College,"  is  exclusively  occupied  by  the  nuns.  Adjoin- 
ing the  nunnery  is  a  chapel  for  the  use  of  the  nuns  and  pupils; 
attached  to  this  chapel  is  a  beautiful  cottage — a  residence  fitted 
up  in  oriental  splendor  and  occupied  by  priests.  This  college, 
with  all  the  exterior  adornment,  impresses  the  outside  world  that 
it  is  a  paradise,  but,  oh  God,  if  the  Protestant  world  but  knew 
the  inner  workings,  they  would  obliterate  its  walls  and  purge  the 
nation  of  such  a  plague  spot. 

This  community  of  Sisters  6i  Charity  is  a  branch  of  St. 
Xavier,  near  Havana,  and  was  established  in  the  same  diocese 
by  Bishop  Rimborni,  in  the  year  1858.  Among  the  first  of  the 
sisters  appointed  to  this  diocese  was  sister  Mary  Xavier,  for 
whom  Bishop  Rimborni  formed  a  deep  attachment,  and  as  proof 


228  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

of  his  devotion  to  her,  he  granted  her  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
reigning  "Mother  Superior"  for  life,  notwithstanding  it  is  con- 
trary to  the  rules  of  the  order,  which  forbid  superiors  to  hold 
office  longer  than  three  years,  and  then  only  by  vote  of  the  sisters. 
However,  Mother  Xavier,  by  her  shrewdness  and  dexterity,  is 
well  fitted  to  fill  the  office  to  which  she  has  been  appointed.  She 
was  a  lady  about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  somewhat  below  the 
medium  height,  urbane  and  polished  in  her  manners,  and  pos- 
sessed of  a  large  share  of  Jesuit  strategy  and  plausibility. 

The  order  of  Sisters  of  Charity  was  founded  by  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul,  in  the  year  1633,  in  France,  and  introduced  into  the 
United  States  by  Mother  E.  Seton,  in  the  year  18 12,  near  Em- 
mettsburg,  Md.  There  is  a  division  among  the  sisters  of  St. 
Vincent  and  the  sisters  of  Mother  E.  Seton  in  regard  to  rules  and 
dress.  The  costume  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Vincent  consists  of  a 
grey  flannel  habit  clumsily  made,  and  singular  looking  "cornet" 
worn  on  the  head,  cut  out  of  white  linen  in  the  form  of  wings  to 
represent  the  "dove,"  and  presenting  a  very  uncouth  and  repul- 
sive appearance.  The  Sisters  of  Mother  E.  Seton  are  attired  in 
a  black  woolen  habit,  with  a  cape  covering  the  waist,  a  white  linen 
collar,  tastefully  turned  down  over  the  cape;  the  face  nearly  con- 
cealed by  a  black  cambric  cap,  drawn  closely  around  the  head.  I 
had  been  in  the  convent  but  a  short  time  until  I  beheld  for  the 
first  time  this  whited  sepulchre,  so  beautiful  without,  but  within 
so  full  of  everlasting  shames  and  shams.  I  felt  most  miserable 
as  I  approached  this  desolate  spot,  and  had  death  stripped  me  of 
every  friend  on  earth,  I  could  have  felt  no  worse  as  I  stood  in  the 
solitude  of  the  convent  walls.  I  knew  ere  I  entered,  that  I  was 
to  leave  my  reason,  my  will,  in  fact,  my  natural  self  outside  of 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  229 

these  walls.  I  was  tempted  to  turn  bacic  from  this  home  of  slavery 
and  debauchery,  but  I  had  gone  too  far ;  I  had  put  my  hands  to 
the  plough,  and  if  I  should  turn  back,  I  would  not  be  fit  for  the 
"Kingdom  of  Heaven."  I  approached  the  main  entrance  and 
rang  the  bell.  A  sad,  pensive-looking  sister  answered  my  sum- 
mons at  the  door,  and  ushered  me  into  a  spacious  and  elegantly 
furnished  parlor,  where  I  was  received  by  Mother  Xavier,  who 
in  a  most  gracious  and  affectionate  manner  welcomed  me  to  her 
"abode  of  peace."  She  expressed  herself  highly  pleased  with  the 
refinement  of  my  appearance  and  manners,  telling  me  that  her 
"prayer  had  been  answered  in  the  Lord  sending  me  to  her,  as  she 
was  very  much  in  need  of  educated  and  accomplished  sisters." 
She  portrayed  in  the  most  glowing  manner  the  "blessed  advan- 
tage of  my  holy  vocation,  which  called  me  away  from  the  noisy, 
sinful  world  to  the  safe  and  peaceful  haven  of  a  religious  life  in 
the  convent,"  assuring  me  I  would  receive  an  hundred-fold  of 
heavenly  gifts  if  I  would  only  remain  faithful  to  my  vocation,  and 
forget  my  country  and  my  father's  house — because  it  is  not  suf- 
ficient that  the  body  quit  the  world,  the  heart  also  must  quit  it,  and 
break  off  all  attachment  for  it.  "All  those,"  said  she,  "that  enter 
our  holy  orders  must  not  only  consider  that  they  quit  father, 
mother,  kindred,  friends,  and  whatsoever  they  possess  in  the 
world,  but  must  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  addresses  them  in  these 
words :  'He  that  hates  not  father,  mother,  brothers,  sisters,  yea 
and  himself,  cannot  be  my  disciple.'  '* 

Oh,  blind  votaries  of  a  benighted  faith !  the  only  sacrifice  our 
merciful  Savior  requires  is  a  contrite  and  humble  heart,  which 
true  discigles  give  Him  without  undergoing  bodily  punishment* 


230  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 


I  was  permitted  to  rest  one  week  ere  I  would  enter  as  a  can- 
didate, and  during  that  time  I  was  treated  as  all  visitors  are,  with 
great  kindness  and  affection  by  the  mother  and  sisters.  At  the 
end  of  the  week,  I  was  stripped  of  my  worldly  clothes  and  attired 
in  the  plain  black  dress  and  white  muslin  cap  of  the  candidate, 
and  entered  upon  a  probation  of  three  months,  during  which  time 
my  disposition  was  studied  and  tried.  I  was  sent  to  work  in  the 
dormitories,  study  halls,  refectories,  kitchen  and  laundry.  It 
is  a  custom  established  in  all  convents  to  employ  freely,  candi- 
dates and  novices  in  every  species  of  toil,  and  the  more  repugnant 
and  distasteful  any  kind  of  occupation  is  perceived  to  be  to  par- 
ticular individuals,  the  more  certainly  are  they  chosen  to  perform 
it.  Accordingly  the  candidate  known  to  have  been  most  deli- 
cately and  tenderly  nurtured,  whose  hands  have  never  before  come 
in  contact  with  hard  service,  is  there  chosen  to  perform  the  most 
menial  offices.  Therefore  I  was  chosen  to  perform  the  most 
distasteful  and  laborious  work  in  the  convent.  The  manner  of 
the  sisters  changed  from  the  sweet,  gentle  beings  they  at  first 
seemed  to  be,  to  harsh,  task-masters.  I  was  never  accustomed  to 
unkindness,  therefore  I  was  extremely  sensitive  to  unwanton 
abuse.  I  could  not  please  the  sisters,  no  matter  how  hard  I  tried. 
I  was  one  day  commanded  to  scrub  eight  floors  of  this  large  build- 
ing with  a  brush  and  sand  upon  my  knees.  Such  work  was  new 
to  me,  nevertheless  I  performed  my  task  in  the  best  way  I  knew 
how,  never  murmuring.  Just  as  I  had  finished  it  my  tyrannical 
task-master  snatched  the  brush  from  my  hand,  tearing  the  skin 
in  several  places,  and  at  the  same  time  dashing  a  pail  of  dirty 
'disH  water  all  over  the  floor,  and  compelling  me  to  again  scrub 
the  floor.  This  is  only  a  small  specimen  of  the  trials  that  awaited 
me* 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  2Z\ 

On  another  occasion,  I  was  obliged  to  wash  all  the  pots  an3 
kettles,  and  scour  all  the  knives  and  forks  in  the  establishment, 
^iy  hands,  which  were  naturally  very  soft  and  white,  began  to 
look  soiled  and  dirty.  Having  remarked  in  my  simplicity  to  Sis- 
ter Terfrano,  the  housekeeper,  "Indeed  sister,  I  am  now  ashamed 
of  my  hands!"  she  sharply  returned,  "Well,  thin,  I'll  be  afther 
making  ye  more  ashamed  of  'em."  Accordingly  she  called  me 
cut  into  another  room  where  a  sister  was  whitewashing  the  walls, 
and  commanded  me  to  dip  my  hands  into  a  pot  of  hot  lime.  I 
hesitated  a  moment,  thinking  certainly  she  could  not  mean  it; 
however  I  was  soon  convinced  of  her  earnestness  by  her  harsh 
tone,  "None  of  yer  airs  now;  but  do  as  I  bid  ye,  or  I'll  tell  the 
mother  of  ye."  I  put  my  hands  down  into  the  hot  lime,  and  she 
held  them  there  some  minutes.  For  several  weeks  my  hands  were 
in  a  most  pitiable  condition.  The  skin  would  crack  and  bleed  at 
every  movement,  causing  me  to  suffer  the  most  excruciating  pain, 
and  yet  I  was  forced  to  wash  and  hang  out  clothes,  the  skin  from 
my  bleeding  hands  often  peeling  off  and  adhering  to  the  gar- 
ments. Of  course  they  presented  a  most  shocking  appearance, 
their  smoothness  and  whiteness  gone,  they  were  red,  swollen,  and 
chapped.  I  made  no  complaint,  but  bore  that  penance  in  silence, 
remarking  to  a  sympathizing  candidate  that  I  justly  merited  it 
for  being  so  proud  and  vain  of  my  hands. 

I  was  one  day  appointed  to  wait  on  the  table  in  the  young 
ladies'  refectory;  and  while  there  conversed  with  a  young  lady 
from  near  my  home,  who  recognized  me,  and  knew  many  of  my 
friends.  Sister  Serona  overheard  me,  and  the  consequence  was 
I  was  humiliated  before  the  community,  being  obliged  to  throw 
myself  prostrate  upon  the  ground,  and  be  walked  over  as  a  door- 
mat by  the  other  sisters.   ~ 


232  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM, 

My  superiors  soon  became  satisfied  that  my  vocation  for  the 
rehgious  life  was  from  God,  and  the  mother  held  me  up  to  the 
novices  as  a  model  of  simplicity,  humility,  and  docility.  Finally, 
my  hair,  of  which  I  was  once  very  proud,  was  shorn  from  my 
head,  and  I  was  clothed  in  the  brown  habit  of  the  novice,  receiv- 
ing the  name  of  Sister  Margati,  by  which  I  was  thenceforth  to  be 
known.  Oh,  I  can  never  forget  the  awful  solemnity  of  my  feel- 
ings on  that  never-to-be-forgotten  day,  when  I  put  off  the  old 
and  familiar  scenes  of  life,  and  embraced  the  new  and  unfamiliar 
austerities  of  an  untried  experience.  And  oh,  how  often  during 
that  day  would  come  the  harrowing  reflection — Home,  and  moth- 
ier,  lost,  lost  to  me  forever !  Never  again  to  enter  that  hallowed 
circle !  Never  again  behold  its  loved  ones !  Never  again  to  make 
the  walls  ring  with  my  girlish  joy !  Never  again  to  listen  to  the 
sweet  voice  of  my  mother,  as  it  breathed  its  melody  in  my  poor 
lonely  ear!  But  this  was  a  vain  and  futile  shrinking;  alas!  I 
had  deliberately  consigned  myself  to  an  inevitable  destiny,  and 
no  power  can  avert  it  now.  I  had  as  I  thought  laid  myself  down 
forever  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  to  become  his  bride,  and  live  like  Him 
while  on  earth,  poor,  despised,  and  self-sacrificing;  henceforth 
only  subject  to  the  will  of  those  appointed  to  rule  over  me.  Little 
did  I  dream,  when  entering  on  this  dark  and  tortuous  path,  whith- 
er it  would  conduct  me. 

Sisters  are  obliged  to  go  to  confession  every  Friday  to  the 
parish  priest,  and  every  three  months  they  make  an  extra  confes- 
sion to  a  Jesuit  or  Passionist  Father.  The  rite  of  confession  af- 
fords the  fathers  great  freedom  to  accomplish  the  purposes  they 
may  entertain.  Seated  in  the  Confessional,  priests  are  empowered 
to  propound  cjuestions  which,  from  the  lips  of  others,  would  be 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  233 

deemed  flagrant  insults ;  kneeling  before  him,  a  sister  must  listen 
to  and  answer  questions  which  fire  a  pure  soul  with  indignation, 
and  are  calculated  to  destroy  every  feeling  of  modesty,  which  is 
the  handmaid  of  chastity  and  woman's  most  beautiful  gift.  Aur- 
icular confession  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  the  underlying 
element  which  gravitates  to  the  priest  as  its  centre. 

The  Confessional  is  a  spiritual  Court  of  Justice;  the  priest 
is  God's  legate;  he  hears  the  accusation  of  the  soul  in  its  own 
condemnation. 

Confession  produces  a  deleterious  effect  upon  the  soul  of 
woman.  After  her  mental  strength  has  been  drawn  to  the  proper 
point,  then  she  is  within  his  priestly  toils. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  show  the  obligations  of  nuns  as 
bound  by  the  Vows  of  Poverty,  Chastity,  and  Obedience.  A  sis- 
ter is  bound  by  the  vow  of  poverty  to  have  no  dominion — no 
property — no  use  of  any  temporal  thing — without  license  from 
a  superior;  hence,  two  things  necessarily  follow:  first,  that  the 
vow  of  poverty  obliges  a  nun  not  to  possess,  or  take,  or  receive, 
any  temporal  thing,  in  order  to  keep,  make  use  of,  or  dispose  of 
it,  in  any  manner  whatsoever,  without  leave  of  the  Superior. 
Second,  that  a  sister  acts  contrary  to  her  vow  of  poverty,  not  only 
when  without  permission  she  takes,  retains,  or  in  any  manner  dis- 
poses of  anything  that  belongs  to  the  community,  but  likewise 
when  she  accepts  of  anything  from  persons  abroad,  though  they 
be  parents  or  friends,  without  the  consent  of  the  superiors,  from 
whom  it  is  a  sacrilege  to  conceal  anything ;  therefore  no  limit  is 
placed  to  the  despotism  of  superiors  who  selfishly  monopolize 
all  things  for  themselves  and  the  priests, 


234  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

A  sister  commits  a  most  grievous  sin  if  she  violates  the  most 
trivial  obligation  of  her  Vow  of  Poverty;  for  instance,  if  a  sister, 
without  leave  of  a  superior,  should  give  to  another  a  picture  or  pin 
she  sins  mortally.  In  order  to  have  complete  control  over  the 
minds  of  the  sisters,  wily  superiors  will  draw  on  their  fears  and 
imaginations  by  relating  frightful  examples  which  God  made  of 
those  who  violated  their  vows. 

The  two  vows  known  as  Chastity  and  Obedience  will  doubt- 
less prove  startling  to  those  to  whom  Jesuitical  casuistry  and  doc- 
trine are  unknown  pursuits  of  study.  A  sister  breaks  the  vow  of 
chastity  by  looking  a  man  in  the  face;  she  must  not  raise  her  eyes 
when  speaking  to  one  of  the  opposite  sex;  she  must  not  touch  a 
sister's  hand,  or  habit,  or  allow  herself  to  be  touched  by  an- 
other. If  allowed  to  see  a  father  or  brother,  she  cannot  take  his 
hand;  she  must  renounce  all  curiosity,  never  look  around  her, 
nor  through  a  window,  nor  toward  a  door  when  opened  to  see 
who  enters.  She  must  walk  in  the  cloister  and  street  with  down- 
cast eyes,  never  showing  a  sign  of  recognition  to  an  acquaint- 
ance. 

Should  a  pupil  linger  beside  a  sister  longer  than  is  necessary, 
the  sister  is  reported  to  the  superior  as  being  too  familiar  with 
the  children.  On  account  of  my  natural  cheerfulness  of  charac- 
ter I  was  a  particular  favorite  with  the  children  and  scholars  in 
general,  consequently  my  pupils  were  very  affectionate  toward 
me,  often  manifesting  their  love  by  taking  my  hand,  encircling 
my  waist,  sitting  at  my  feet,  kissing  my  habit,  etc.,  whereupon  I 
would  be  reported  guilty  of  great  impropriety.  If  a  sister  falls 
in  love  with  a  priest  she  is  compelled  to  tell  him  so.    Here  note 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  935 

the  infamous  craft  of  the  priesthood;  a  young  girl  being  boun3 
by  the  rules  to  disclose  every  impulse  she  has, — the  priest  thus 
informed  can  take  advantage  of  her  as  he  may  feel  inclined. 
Sometimes,  for  the  sake  of  policy,  he  will  express  a  holy  horror 
at  her  impulses,  especially  if  the  sister  is  not  pretty,  and  fair  of 
form.  On  the  other  hand,  should  his  evil  heart  suggest  to  him 
the  moral  destruction  of  this  sister,  he  has  her  at  his  mercy. 

It  is  forbidden  that  a  sister  should  see  a  priest  alone  in  the 
parlor;  neither  is  it  allowed  that  she  should  visit  a  priest  alone; 
yet  she  may  remain  at  the  Confessional  for  any  length  of  time 
alone  with  her  confessor ;  and  she  may  confess  to  him  in  his  own 
room  in  case  of  his  indisposition.  The  priests  often  enter  the 
rooms  of  the  superiors,  and  remain  there  for  a  considerable  time; 
nor  is  any  one  permitted  to  open  the  door,  or  enter  the  room  dur- 
ing their  stay.  When  a  priest  enters  the  room  of  a  superior,  or 
officer,  should  a  private  sister  be  present  at  the  time,  she  is  told  to 
withdraw  at  once;  nor  is  any  one  allowed  to  enter  while  he  re- 
mains. 

Various  injunctions  and  examples,  as  the  following,  are 
daily  read  to  the  sisters :  St.  Alphonsus  Liguori  says,  "a  deliber- 
ate glance  at  a  person  of  a  different  sex,  enkindles  an  infernal 
spark  which  damns  the  soul."  St.  Clara  would  never  look  in  the 
face  of  a  man.  She  was  greatly  afflicted  because  she  once  invol- 
untarily saw  the  countenance  of  a  priest.  ,  (There  are  not  many 
St.  Claras  in  the  convents  of  the  nineteenth  century!)  It  is  re- 
lated of  St.  Arsenius,  that  a  noble  lady  v/ent  to  visit  him  in  the 
desert  to  beg  of  him  to  recommend  her  to  God.  When  this  saint 
perceived  that  his  visitor  was  a  woman,  he  turned  away  from 
her.    She  then  said  to  him,    Arsenius,  since  you  will  neither  see 


236  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

nor  hear  me,  at  least  remember  me  in  your  prayers.  No,  replied 
the  priest,  but  I  will  beg  God  to  make  me  forget  your  lovable  face 
and  form. 

A  sister  is  in  the  greatest  danger  of  moral  death  who  thus 
gives  herself  to  the  guidance  of  passive  and  blind  obedience.  Her 
conscience  is  stifled;  she  must  not  trouble  herself  about  the  sin  or 
its  consequences,  when  she  is  bound  to  think  the  vow  of  obedience 
the  only  way  to  heaven.  Oh,  what  blasphemy!  what  delusion! 
May  the  blessed  light  of  the  Son  of  God  shine  upon  their  poor 
misguided  souls,  and  let  fall  from  their  darkened  eyes  the 
scales  of  error,  and  give  them  to  know  and  feel  that  Jesus  is  the 
only  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  Such  is  the  earnest  prayer  of 
my  heart  for  all  deluded  children  of  superstition.  None,  save 
those  who,  like  myself,  have  been  groping  in  the  black  wilderness 
of  Romanism,  and  at  last  have  found  deliverance  by  the  light  of 
Jesus,  can  know  what  it  means. 

The  unkindness  of  sisters  of  charity  to  children  extends  be- 
yond human  comprehension.  When  a  child  fails  in  a  recitation  or 
conduct,  the  rod  is  applied,  and  the  little  one  often  carries  marks 
of  its  awful  use  for  weeks  at  a  time.  It  is  impossible  for  children 
to  advance  rapidly  in  these  schools,  because  they  are  not  properly 
instructed.  It  often  happens  that  one  sister  may  have  from  one 
hundred  and  eighty  to  two  hundred  children  to  teach,  and  sisters 
are  sent  to  teach  who  are  ignorant  themselves.  Sister  de  Sales' 
class  of  orphans  was  one  year  learning  how  to  spell  words  of  one 
syllable.  The  priests  spend  a  great  deal  of  their  time  in  the 
parochial  schools,  making  love  to  the  pretty  young  sisters,  while 
the  rest  of  their  time  is  spent  in  mumbling  Latin  offices^  drinking 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OP  ROMANISM.  237 


wine,  or  "whisky  punch,"  and  making  merry  on  the  "fat  of  th 
land." 

Note. — In  treating  of  cruelty  to  children,  or  the  sisters'  in- 
competency to  teach,  I  do  not  allude  to  a  boarding  school  institu- 
tion, or  to  any  select  pay-school  taught  by  Sisters  of  Charity. 
The  sisters  do  not  so  far  forget  themselves,  or  their  church  policy, 
as  to  impose  cruelties  on  those  children  whose  parents  pay  a 
tuition  fee  of  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  dol- 
lars per  annum.  I  will  here  state  that  there  can  be  no  greater 
kindness  shown  to  pupils  than  is  bestowed  on  the  children  of 
wealthy  parents,  and  especially  those  of  Protestant  parentage  who 
are  open  to  conviction  in  the  way  of  Catholic  dogmas.  Such 
pupils  are  taught  well,  but  not  in  solid  branches  of  science  or 
history.  They  appear  to  aim  to  give  a  superficial  show  of  accom- 
plishments, according  to  the  capacity  of  each  pupil,  in  order  that 
parents  may  be  satisfied;  at  the  same  time  every  exertion  is  made 
to  win  the  good  will  of  parents  who  have  money.  If  Protestants 
deem  it  necessary  to  send  their  children  away  from  home  to  be 
taught;  in  the  name  of  God  send  them  to  a  Protestant  school.  Do 
you  ever  hear  of  Catholics  sending  their  children  away  to  Protest- 
ant schools?  No,  never;  then  why  should  Protestants  patronize 
their  schools  ?  Did  you  ever  know  of  a  Catholic  giving  a  penny 
towards  maintaining  a  Protestant  institution  ?  I  will  give  you  a 
hundred  years  to  answer.  Protestants,  kind  souls,  lend  Roman- 
ists a  strong  arm  to  build  up  and  support  their  peculiar  institu- 
tions. 

I  have  been  brought  to  see  the  unwholesome  influence  that 
IS  exerted  over  Protestant  young  ladies  who  receive  their  educa- 


238  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

tion  in  Catholic  institutions.  Prodigious  efforts  are  made  to  irr«- 
press  popish  doctrines  upon  their  tender  and  susceptible  minds; 
and  I  can  safely  say  there  is  not  one  out  of  ten  who  leaves  that 
institution  whose  mind  is  not  filled  with  the  religious  tenets  of 
the  Church  of  Rome.  I  am  acquainted  with  several  young  ladies 
educated  at  Havana,  and  with  few  exceptions  they  all  felt  more 
or  less  inclined  to  embrace  Catholicism.  The  sisters  are  seem- 
ingly very  mild,  amiable,  and  pleasing  in  their  dispositions  to 
Protestant  pupils — engaging  and  winning  in  all  they  say  and 
do — and  are  possessed  of  all  the  charms  and  machinations  neces- 
sary to  initiate  themselves  into  their  good  graces,  and  to  gain 
them  over  finally  to  popery. 

The  sisters  will  blandly  tell  Protestant  parents  that  they  will 
make  no  effort  to  instil  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  minds  of  their 
children,  and  that  they  will  be  perfectly  free  to  practice  the  pre- 
cepts of  their  own  religion.  Certainly  they  do  not  compel  schol- 
ars to  study  the  Catholic  Catechism,  or  expound  the  "Christian 
Doctrine,"  yet  the  latter  must  be  present  at  those  exercises  and 
listen  attentively  to  the  Catholic  interpretation. 

Fifteen  long,  weary  months  had  passed,  since  I  entered  the 
convent,  and  during  that  time  I  had  not  heard  from  home  or 
friends.  I  had  written  to  my  parents  twice,  but  every  letter  sent* 
or  received,  being  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the  superiors,  I 
never  knew  whether  my  letters  had  been  sent  from  the  convent; 
and  as  I  had  not  received  any,  I  had  given  up  all  hopes  of  ever 
hearing  from  my  home.  Althougli  I  had  offered  this  trial  as  a 
sacrifice  to  God,  still  my  heart  yearned  to  hear  from  that 
dear  mother  who  had  so  tenderly  watched  over  me  in  the  past, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  23d 

and  from  whom  my  Insane  folly  had  rendered  it  forever  impossi- 
ble to  receive  comfort  again.  Oh,  how  often  my  soul  struggled 
against  the  temptation  of  despair  and  remorse,  at  the  step  I  had 
taken,  and  from  which  there  must  be  no  looking  back !  I  had  no 
one  but  myself  to  blame;  my  own  hand  had  clasped  the  chain 
which  I  then  thought  nothing  but  death  could  unclasp.  Oh,  the 
nights  of  conflict  and  anguish  followed  by  days  of  outward  calm- 
ness and  apparent  conformity,  the  dissimulation  of  which  was 
again  the  subject  of  remorse!  Oh,  how  keenly  I  suffered  the 
penalty  of  my  infatuation. 

It  was  the  feast  of  the  Epiphany  when  Sister  Mary  Joseph 
met  me  in  the  hall,  and  in  a  sharp  tone  ordered  me  to  go  to  the 
parlor  and  stay  just  ten  minutes.  These  were  the  only  words 
she  condescended  to  address  to  me,  and  I,  thinking  some  lady  of 
the  parish  wished  to  see  me  in  regard  to  her  children,  and  that  I 
was  restricted  to  a  ten  minutes  interview  as  a  trial  of  obedience, 
proceeded  to  the  parlor.  But  oh,  how  can  I  picture  my  surprise 
to  meet  there  my  oldest  sister,  Verta.  In  my  joy,  forgetting 
every  restraint,  every  obligation  of  rule  which  forbids  the  sisters 
to  make  any  demonstration  of  affection  on  meeting  their  rela- 
tives, I  threw  my  arms  around  her  neck  and  kissed  her  fondly, 
holding  her  for  several  moments  to  my  throbbing  heart.  I  was 
entirely  overcome  by  this  sudden  and  unexpected  meeting  of  a 
sister  dearly  loved.  Before  I  could  control  my  feelings  sufficient- 
ly to  inquire  about  home  the  ten  minutes  had  expired.  I  could 
not  endure  the  thought  of  parting  with  my  sister  so  soon,  there- 
fore I  hastened  to  sister  Mary  Joseph,  and  on  my  knees  begged 
her  to  grant  me  a  little  extension  of  the  time  in  which  to  see  my 
sister.    She  refused  to  grant  me  a  single  minute  more.    I  then 


240  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


asked  her  if  she  would  not,  at  least,  send  some  refreshment  to  her, 
as  she  was  very  weary  after  her  long  journey,  and  besides  she 
had  had  considerable  difficulty  in  finding  me.  This  little  act  of 
Christian  charity  she  refused  on  the  plea  that  she  could  go  con- 
veniently to  a  restaurant,  as  there  were  plenty  of  such  places  in 
the  city.  She  sharply  told  me  I  ought  to  be  very  grateful  for  the 
favor  of  seeing  my  sister  at  all,  and  that  she  would  not  have 
granted  it  if  she  could  have  denied  my  "proud  sister,"  who  stead- 
fastly refused  to  go  away  without  seeing  me.  Language  is  pow- 
erless to  describe  the  overwhelming  grief  I  felt  in  being  forced  to 
turn  away  that  sister  without  another  word,  even  without  a 
caress.  Oh  God,  what  a  trial !  Fifteen  months  without  a  word 
from  those  I  so  dearly  loved — without  seeing  one  dear  familiar 
face !  and  then  at  last,  when  a  sister  comes  to  see  me,  sent  by  dear 
parents  who  were  anxious  to  know  my  fate,  I,  after  all  her  long 
journey  to  a  strange  place,  am  obliged  to  send  her  away,  power- 
less to  offer  her  even  the  least  act  of  courtesy  or  kindness; — to 
send  her  away  without  having  the  time  to  communicate  a  single 
message  of  love  for  my  darling  mother,  or  even  inquire  about 
her,  while  my  poor  heart  had  so  many  questions  to  ask  about 
home,  and  how  each  had  borne  my  absence  from  them.  My  sis- 
ter, who  was  very  unfavorably  impressed  by  the  unkindness  of 
Sister  Mary  Joseph,  asked  me  if  I  was  happy  among  such  vulgar 
companions.  .With  convent  dissimulation  I  was  forced  to  reply 
in  the  affirmative,  for,  was  not  a  sister  in  the  hall  listening  to 
every  word  we  uttered  ?  .With  a  heavy  heart  I  closed  the  door  on 
that  sister,  and,  unable  to  restrain  my  grief  longer,  I  fell  prostrate 
and  wept  as  only  a  poor  deluded  soul  can. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  241 

Among  those  sisters  for  whom  I  entertained  a  particular  at- 
tachment, none  were  so  dear  to  me  as  Sister  Virginia.  She  en- 
tered the  convent  a  few  days  after  myself,  therefore  she  was  a 
candidate  with  me.  She  was  one  of  those  beautiful,  highly  gifted 
souls  whom  one  rarely  meets  with  in  a  life  time.  There  was  a 
certain  congeniality  of  thought  and  ideas  which  strongly  drew 
us  together,  and  to  each  other  we  poured  out  our  several  trials. 
Her  refined  and  exalted  nature  felt  most  acutely  the  trials  of  con- 
vent life.  Among  her  various  accomplishments  she  excelled  in 
penmanship,  and  after  she  received  the  habit  of  the  novice,  she 
was  retained  at  the  mother-house,  and  appointed  teacher  of  orna- 
mental penmanship  to  the  young  ladies  of  the  Academy.  So  after 
our  three  months  candidateship  had  expired,  our  intercourse  was 
limited  to  the  few  weeks  vacation  when  the  sisters  all  meet  for  the 
annual  retreat. 

The  last  time  I  saw  this  loving  and  lovable  girl,  she  clasped 
my  hand  and  in  a  solemn  manner  declared  that  "convent  life  was 
a  living  death  which  she  could  not  endure  longer,"  and  said,  "if 
I  am  compelled  to  remain  1  shall  go  mad."  She  remained  silent 
for  a  few  moments,  and  then  said :  "The  enormities  I  see  here 
each  day,  and  the  insults  offered  me  are  against  my  nature,  and 
my  reason  is  tottering."  I  embraced  her,  and  she  said,  "Goodbye 
forever."  "If  you  see  me  again  I  shall  be  raving  mad."  When  I 
went  to  the  mother-house  again  Sister  Virginia  was  not  there; 
she  was  an  inmate  of  the  Insane  Asylum. 

Sisters  never  know  what  takes  place  in  the  different  houses 
of  the  order,  therefore  I  was  most  anxious  to  learn  the  cause  of 
Sister  Virginia's  insanity,  but  it  being  against  the  rules  to  make 
any  inquiries  or  ask  unnecessary  questions,  I  did  not  dare  to  In- 

(16) 


242  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


quire  about  her ;  however,  one  of  the  novices  gave  me  the  follow- 
ing account :  It  was  the  morning  of  the  distribution  in  the  Acad- 
emy, that  Sister  Virginia  was  found  by  Sister  Madeleine  at  her 
writing  desk,  her  head  buried  in  her  hands.  When  Sister  Made- 
leine spoke  to  her,  she  began  to  cry  and  scream,  "I  am  mad !  I'm 
mad !"  During  three  days  and  nights  she  was  unmanageable,  and 
in  her  ravings  reproached  the  sisters  with  all  manner  of  crimes. 
When  she  became  more  calm  she  was  attired  in  worldly  clothes 
and  conveyed  to  the  Insane  Asylum.  This  asylum  is  under  the 
superintendence  of  Sisters  of  Charity,  The  last  I  heard  of  her 
was  that  she  was  considered  hopelessly  insane;  reason  had  flown 
from  its  beautiful  seat,  and  that  once  highly  gifted  and  talented 
girl  is  now  a  mental  wreck,  another  of  the  many  such  victims  of 
that  accursed  and  deplorable  system  of  conventualism.  Poor 
Virginia !  could  she  have  abandoned  the  loveless,  hopeless  life 
she  led  in  the  convent,  when  she  first  felt  the  dread  foreboding  of 
the  sad  fate  which  came  upon  her,  and  returned  to  the  love  and 
care  of  her  mother,  she  would  have  been  saved  from  mental  ship- 
wreck; but  alas !  she  was  bound  by  vows  which  she  would  con- 
scientiously keep  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  reason. 

However,  several  sisters  did  rebel  and  leave  the  Community, 
among  them  was  Sister  Ann  Elizabeth.  This  sister  was  one  of 
the  first  candidates  when  the  community  was  established  in  the 
diocese.  Sister  Ann  Elizabeth  is  well  known  as  she  was  superior 
for  several  years  in  St,  Leo's  parish.  In  the  community  a  council 
is  convened  every  month  for  the  purpose  of  settling  all  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  order.  It  is  in  these  councils  sentence  is  pronounced 
upon  refractory  sisters,  and  all  the  secrets  of  the  community  dis- 
cussed..   iThe  council  consists  of  some  reverend  priest  and  three 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  243 

sisters  next  to  him  in  office,  presided  over  by  the  Father  Superior. 
Sister  Ann  EHzabeth  was  one  of  the  sisters  who  sat  in  this  coun- 
cil. She  was  an  Irish  lady  possessing  great  dignity  of  character, 
which  could  not  brook  anything  degrading.  When  she  was  ad- 
mitted as  a  member  of  the  council,  her  eyes  were  opened,  and  she 
could  not  remain  a  member  of  a  community  where  she  knew  they 
did  such  wicked  things.  I  remember  the  last  time  I  saw  her  was 
during  our  summer  vacation.  She  came  into  the  study  hall,  where 
the  novices  and  young  professed  nuns  were  assembled,  and  thus 
addressed  us :  "Sisters,  I  advise  every  one  of  you  to  leave  this 
abode,  and  go  back  to  your  homes,  for  I  am  sure  the  curse  of  God 
will  fall  upon  this  Community  on  account  of  the  crimes  covered 
up,  and  which  I  as  a  member  of  the  secret  council  know.  Sisters, 
if  you  knew  what  I  know,  you  would  fly  from  here."  Sister  Ann 
Elizabeth  was  very  much  excited  while  she  spoke,  and  we  all 
looked  upon  her  in  amazement.  She  declared  that  there  had  been 
as  many  as  twelve  infants  destroyed  by  burning  in  the  convent 
stoves,  and  solemnly  declared  that  to  her  knowledge  every  priest 
that  she  had  ever  known  had  proven  himself  to  be  a  despoiler  of 
virtue. 


Chapter  XVI. 


The  Character  of  Catholics  in  America. 

WHO  THEY  ARE  AND  WHERE  THEY  COME  FROM. 


One  does  not  have  to  travel  far  before  they  can  arrive  at  an 
intelligent  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  character  of  the  inhabitants 
of  America,  especially  in  the  large  cities  of  this  country,  for  the 
saloon  element,  comparatively  speaking,  is  made  up  of  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church;  think  of  it,  a  man  who  professes  to  be  a 
Christian  and  a  fit  subject  for  heaven  keeping  a  saloon,  a  bar- 
room, a  dram-shop,  a  cess-pool  of  iniquity;  but  this  is  the  case, 
for  statistics  show  that  ninety-four  bar-rooms  out  of  every  hun- 
dred in  America  are  owned  and  controlled  by  members  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  when  these  figures  are  considered,  after 
knowing  that  Protestants  greatly  outnumber  Catholics  in  popu- 
lation it  becomes  a  matter  of  wonderment,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
clearly  demonstrates  to  the  mind  that  the  morals  of  Catholicism 
are  greatly  below  that  of  Protestants.  Again,  if  you  will  visit 
the  brothels  of  the  cities  and  enquire  the  religious  inclinations  of 


246  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM, 

their  inmates  you  will  find  eighty-one  out  of  every  one  hundred 
who  have  been  reared  under  the  influences  of  abominable  Catholi- 
cism which  teaches  from  infancy  that  no  sin  is  so  heinous  but 
what  the  priest  can  wipe  away,  thus  they  are  encouraged  by  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  commit  sin  with- 
out hesitancy,  believing  that  it  is  only  a  matter  of  a  few  moments 
in  the  confessional  box  with  the  priest,  and  the  giving  up  of  a 
dollar  or  two  to  get  all  the  slime  and  putrid  rottenness  eradicated 
from  their  immortal  souls. 

If  Catholicism  would  halt  at  their  own  members  it  would 
not  be  so  bad,  but  their  priests  invade  the  homes  of  the  Protest- 
ants, of  the  Catholic,  and  of  the  infidel.  They  poison  the  atmos- 
phere which  all  breathe.  They  lower  the  standard  of  public  opin- 
ion. They  make  a  war  on  morality  and  virtue.  They  counte- 
nance wrong-doing.  They  tolerate  evil,  and  reward  vice.  "Evil 
communications  corrupt  good  manners,"  in  America  as  in  Europe 
or  elsewhere,  in  our  time  as  in  Paul's  time.  The  celebrated  Dean 
Swift  having  preached  a  sermon  against  sleeping  in  church,  be- 
gan his  application  in  this  manner :  "These  arguments  may  have 
weight  with  men  awake,  but  what  shall  we  say  of  the  sleeper? 
By  what  process  shall  we  arouse  him  to  a  sense  of  his  danger?'* 
These  words  form  a  good  introduction  to  the  consideration  of 
the  methods  by  which  priests  invade  the  home.  Some  who  are 
awake  know  that  homes  are  invaded,  but  thousands  ignore  the 
fact  that  popery  is  the  religion  of  depraved  human  nature.  What 
Toplady  said  of  Arminianism,  is  applicable  to  it.  Every  man  is 
born  a  Papist.  Rome  would  not  go  far  wrong  if  she  counted  in 
her  membership  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  broad  road 
to  an  eternal  hell.    Every  Papist  comes  into  the  world  not  only; 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  247 

in  a  state  of  alienation  from  God,  but  with  an  innate  propensity 
to  trust  in  himself,  or  in  something  done  by  himself,  or  by  his 
fellow-creatures,  to  obtain  the  favor  or  remove  the  displeasure 
of  God. 

Christianity  reveals  a  Savior  who  has  obeyed  and  suffered 
in  the  room  of  the  guilty ;  who  has,  in  short,  done  every  thing  that 
was  necessary  to  reconcile  sinners  to  their  offended  Creator,  and 
every  sinner  who  believes  in  him  is  so  reconciled.  This  reconcil- 
iation is  necessarily  and  invariably  accompanied  by  a  radical 
change  in  the  character  as  well  as  the  state  of  the  individual.  He 
becomes  a  new  creature.  He  commences  a  new  and  spiritual  life; 
or,  to  use  the  emphatic  words  of  our  Savior,  "he  is  born  again." 
And  without  this  no  man  can  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  fu- 
ture life  of  such  a  person  is  characterized  by  a  hatred  of  sin,  and 
a  daily  opposition  to  it  in  all  its  motions  and  operations  in  his  own 
heart,  together  with  a  love  of  righteousness,  and  an  earnest  desire 
to  please  and  serve  God.  It  requires  nothing  less  than  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  produce  this  change,  and  nothing  short  of 
this  will  be  recognized  by  the  righteous  Judge  as  Christianity. 
This  fits  an  individual  for  our  home  or  any  other  home,  and 
brings  him  into  such  relations  with  God,  that,  because  of  what 
has  been  wrought  within  his  soul,  he  loves  the  things  God  loves, 
and  hates  the  things  God  hates.  He  stands  with  the  right  against 
the  wrong,  not  because  he  may,  but  because  he  must. 

Popery  ignores  all  this.  By  the  sacrament  of  baptism  a 
priest  claims  to  have  the  power  to  regenerate  the  sinner.  This 
requires  no  subjugation  or  surrendering  of  the  will,  no  repent- 
ance of  sin,  no  confession  of  Christ.  By  baptism  he  is  told  that 
all  his  sins  are  taken   away.    Do  v/e  believe  it?    Turn  to  any 


248  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


Romish  Catechism,  and  read  this  question  and  answer.  Ques- 
tion.— "What  are  the  effects  of  baptism?"  'Atis. — "A  total  re- 
mission of  original  and  actual  sin,  with  the  pains  due  them.'' 

By  the  sacrament  of  penance  all  the  sins  committed  after 
baptism  are  forgiven;  and  by  extreme  unction,  when  he  comes 
to  die,  he  is  assured  of  everlasting  happiness,  after  a  little  of 
purgatory,  which  will  be  made  as  short  as  possible  if  the  money 
is  forthcoming  to  pay  for  masses.  All  the  time,  from  baptism 
until  death,  the  person  is  unconscious  of  any  change  having  taken 
place  in  the  state  of  his  heart  towards  God  or  holiness.  His  af- 
fections are  carnal ;  he  is  in  love  with  sin,  and  he  continues  to  live 
in  it,  flattering  himself  that  his  soul  is  safe  because  he  observes 
all  the  prescribed  forms  of  his  religion. 

To  rule  such  a  man,  no  religion  is  required,  if  by  religion  we 
mean  binding  a  man  back  to  God.  A  Romanist  is  loosened 
from  God,  and  has  the  sanction  of  his  Church  in  going  to  the 
Devil.  He  pleases  himself;  he  can  swear,  break  the  Sabbath,  dis- 
honor his  parents,  lie,  steal,  commit  adultery,  and  whatever  else 
lies  in  his  way,  or  is  prompted  by  his  heart,  and  get  on  nominally 
in  a  church  whose  head  is  pollution,  and  whose  body  is  a  body  of 
death.  Do  we  doubt  this  ?  Be  it  known,  then,  "that  Paul  HI.  in 
the  third  year  of  his  papacy  granted  a  bull  for  publicly  licensing 
brothels,  and  gave  an  indulgence  for  the  commission  of  lewdness, 
provided  the  man  paid  a  certain  fine  to  the  Holy  See,  and  the 
woman  a  yearly  sum  for  her  license,  and  entered  her  name  in  the 
public  register.  In  the  days  of  this  pope  there  are  said  to  have 
been  forty-five  thousand  such  women  in  Rome;  and,  besides  the 
amount  of  annual  license  which  each  took  out  for  the  privilege 
of  prostitution,  the  Church  received  a  part  of  their  weekly  in- 
come." 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  249 

"Each  brothel  had  an  iron  chest  fixed  into  the  wall,  into 
which  every  man  put  his  offering;  and  three  agents  of  the  Holy 
See  went  round  weekly  to  open  the  chests,  and  divide  what  was 
found  in  them.  One-third  part  went  to  the  house,  one-third  to 
the  women,  and  one-third  to  the  holy  Church,  for  the  purpose,  it 
was  pretended,  of  redeeming  captives  of  the  Romish  religion 
from  the  Turks.  If  any  man  chose  to  be  wicked  in  a  more  private 
manner,  and  went  to  a  person  or  a  house  unlicensed,  he  was,  on 
discovery,  to  be  excommunicated,  or  to  pay  seven  times  the  price 
which  his  sin  would  have  cost  in  a  lawful  way." 

Such  is  the  holy  Church.  In  the  Vatican  dwell  three  hun- 
dred women.  For  what?  Monasteries  and  nunneries  are  built 
in  close  proximity.  Why?  In  a  Florida  town  is  a  convent  that 
owns  a  rumshop,  where  sometimes  a  score  of  priests  warm  up 
with  wine,  whiskey,  and  brandy,  and  then  under  a  covered  arch- 
way pass  to  the  nunnery,  and  spend  the  residue  of  the  night  in  a 
bacchanalian  revel.  In  Dubuque,  la.,  the  bishop  openly  lets 
houses  for  prostitution,  and  pockets  the  proceeds  for  the  Church. 
In  St.  Louis,  prostitution  was  licensed;  and  Paul  III.  and  the 
teaching  of  Romanism  furnished  the  example  and  the  authority. 

It  is  pitiable,  it  is  terrible,  that,  if  any  one  will  but  implicitly 
submit  to  all  the  impositions  of  the  Church,  he  may  live  as  wick- 
edly as  he  pleases,  and  be  assured  of  heaven  at  last.  Charles  II. 
of  England  died  with  prostitutes  about  him,  a  disgrace  to  Eng- 
land and  to  himself;  and  Rome  gloried  in  him  as  a  convert.  The 
more  of  man  and  the  less  of  God  in  Rome,  the  more  Romanism 
is  praised  by  those  who  prefer  a  lie  to  the  truth.  Romanism  is  a 
fact.  It  walks  in  darkness,  and  opposes  the  truth.  Though  there 
are  more  than  seven  millions  of  Roman  Catholics  sheltered  be- 


250  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM. 

neatH  the  aegis  of  the  RepubHc  of  the  United  States,  and  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  milHons  in  the  world  deluded  by  error  and  shrouded 
in  the  folds  of  Papal  if  not  of  Pagan  night,  yet,  such  is  the  ten- 
dency of  Church-anity  to  usurp  the  place  of  Christianity,  that 
many  believe  that  because  these  millions  belong  to  a  so-called 
church,  they  are  not  only  housed  from  danger,  but  are  harmless 
if  not  helpful  factors  in  religious  work.  As  a  result,  men  who 
take  high  rank  in  the  Church  as  well  as  in  the  world,  give  money 
to  support  their  protectories  and  asylums,  help  them  to  found 
colleges,  build  and  maintain  convents,  forgetful  that  they  who 
help  error  and  encourage  it  become  its  slaves.  Vice  tolerated 
pollutes  and  stains  the  soul.  Hence  God  says,  "Abhor  that  which 
is  evil."  Eject  it.  Cast  it  from  you.  "Have  no  fellowship  with 
the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather  reprove  them."  "For 
it  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  those  things  which  are  done  of  them 
in  secret.  But  all  things  that  are  reproved  are  made  manifest  by 
this  light,  for  whatsoever  doth  make  manifest  is  light.  Where- 
fore God  saith,  Aivake,  thou  that  ^leepest,  and  arise  from  the 
dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light." 

A  young  man  enters  a  hotel.  In  the  passage-way  he  is  met 
by  a  wretch  in  the  shape  of  a  well-dressed  book-agent.  He  in- 
vites the  young  man  to  look  for  a  moment  at  a  book.  It  is  opened. 
His  eye  rests  on  a  lascivious  picture  placed  there  to  excite  and 
capture  him.  What  does  he  do  ?  Does  he  welcome  it  ?  Does  he 
take  the  book  in  his  hands,  and  turn  over  its  pages,  and  look  at 
the  various  pictures  until  his  passions  are  aroused,  and  he  is 
ready  to  accept  the  invitations  lodged  between  its  pages  inviting 
him  to  a  brothel?  If  so  he  is  ruined :  the  ruin  had  been  wrought 
before;  now  it  reveals  itself.    But  if  he  is  indignant;  if  his  soul 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  251 

( 

abhors  the  evil;  if  he  pushes  the  man  aside,  dashes  the  book  to 
the  floor,  and  grinds  it  with  his  heel,  then  he  passes  into  the  hotel 
a  self-respecting  man.  Because  of  what  had  been  wrought  in  his 
soul,  he  is  safe.  He  is  incased  in  armor,  because  his  heart  is  the 
home  of  purity.  The  value  of  the  religion  of  Christ  is  seen  in 
what  it  works  in  a  man,  and  does  for  a  man.  It  makes  him  a 
"new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus;  old  things  are  passed  away;  all 
things  have  become  new."  How  will  this  uncovering  of  the  pol- 
lutions of  Rome  be  received  ? 

Romanism  is  being  tolerated.  The  universal  toleration  of 
Romanism  would  mean  the  sounding-forth  of  the  knell  of  hope. 
Religion  dies  where  Romanism  thrives.  Education  is  abandoned; 
virtue  loosens  its  belt,  and  vice  takes  the  reins,  and  drives  where- 
(gver  inclination  and  passion  may  direct. 

Look  at  Mexico, 

'A  country  less  known  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  than  is 
any  State  in  Europe.  Romanism  had  full  swing.  As  a  result, 
ignorance  was  the  rule.  Crime  went  unchecked.  To  virtue  the 
people  were  strangers.  To  poverty,  degradation,  to  criminal  liv- 
ing, they  were  to  the  manor  born.  The  war  of  the  Rebellion  had 
begun.  Louis  Napoleon  desired  to  found  a  Latin  empire  on  this 
Western  continent,  making  Mexico  its  capital,  and  uniting  to  it 
the  southern  half  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  then  in 
rebellion  against  the  ascendency  of  freedom,  and  the  supremacy 
of  the  stars  and  stripes.  The  Pope,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  every  lover  of  despotism  in  the  world,  was  with  him.  Against 
Hm  were  the  lovers  of  liberty  and  the  haters  of  Romanism  in 
Mexico,  led  by  Benito  Juarez,  a  Zapotec  Indian,  a  race  that  were 


252  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

of  the  mountainous  portions  of  the  country,  and  who  had  never 
been  fully  conquered  by  the  Spaniards.  As  far  back  as  1856, 
when  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  of  Alvarez  Juarez  had  been  in- 
strumental in  the  adoption  of  a  political  constitution,  which  was 
based  on  the  broadest  republican  principles,  and  which  provided 
for  free  schools,  a  free  press,  a  complete  subjugation  of  the  eccle- 
siastical and  military  to  the  civil  authority.  Hitherto,  members 
of  the  army,  and  all  the  ecclesiastics,  could  only  be  tried  for  of- 
fences by  privileged  and  special  tribunals,  composed  of  members 
of  their  own  orders;  but  the  constitution  of  Juarez  abolished  all 
that,  and  proclaimed,  for  the  first  time  in  Mexico,  the  equality  of 
all  men  before  the  law. 

This  government  was  overthrown  by  force,  and  Maximilian 
of  Austria  was,  by  the  power  of  the  Papal  Church,  installed  as 
emperor.  The  priests  were  against  the  people,  and  the  enemies 
of  liberty.  Maximilian  was  a  man  of  elegant  presence,  winning 
manners,  and  of  much  refinement  and  culture;  and  these  qualities, 
with  undoubted  personal  courage,  contributed  to  give  him  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  personal  popularity  and  sympathy.  But  he  was 
an  absolutist,  and  in  devotion  to  the  Roman-Catholic  Church  an 
extremist  to  the  point  of  fanaticism.  The  first  is  seen  in  his  es- 
tablishing a  court,  with  orders  of  nobility,  decorations,  and  min- 
ute ceremonials;  the  construction  and  use  of  an  absurd  state  car- 
riage, modeled  after  the  style  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  still  shown  in 
the  National  Museum;  and  more,  by  the  proclamation  and  execu- 
tion of  an  order  (which  subsequently  cost  Maximilian  his  own 
life),  that  all  republican  officers  taken  prisoners  in  battle  by  the 
imperialists  should  be  summarily  executed  as  bandits.  The  sec- 
ond charge  is  proven  by  his  walking  barefoot,  on  a  day  of  pilgrim- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  2BS 

age,  all  the  way  over  some  two  or  three  miles  of  dusty,  disagree- 
able road,  from  the  City  of  Mexico  to  the  shrine  of  the  virgin  of 
Guadalupe. 

As  the  overthrow  of  the  rebellion  in  1865  made  it  certain 
that  Louis  Napoleon  and  his  Latin  empire  must  seek  safety  in 
flight,  at  any  rate  must  turn  from  the  Western  continent,  the 
French  forces  were  withdrawn  from  Mexico.  Maximilian  should 
have  gone  with  them.  The  Church  party  persuaded  him  to  re- 
main, pledging  him  their  support.  Maximilian  returned  to  the 
City  of  Mexico,  and  went  to  his  doom.  The  republican  forces 
triumphed  over  despotism,  Maximilian  was  executed,  and  Benito 
Juarez  became  president  of  the  republic.  What  did  he  find? 
This:  the  Church  had  despoiled  Mexico  of  hope,  of  honor,  of 
faith,  of  religion;  Romanism  must  get  out  of  the  way,  that  the 
republic  might  live.  Get  out  of  the  way  it  did.  The  entire  prop- 
erty of  the  Church  was  confiscated  to  the  use  of  the  state.  "Every 
convent,  monastic  institution,  or  religious  house  was  closed  up, 
and  devoted  to  secular  uses."  Streets  were  dug  through  the 
foundations;  and  then  and  there  the  inquisitorial  hate,  as  it 
wreaked  its  vengeance  upon  hapless  victims,  was  uncovered. 
Walled-up  graves,  dungeons,  and  horrid  implements  of  torture, 
were  revealed.  Romanism  in  Mexico  was  the  same  as  Romanism 
in  Rome  and  everywhere.  It  is  as  bad  as  it  can  be,  wherever  op- 
portunity is  furnished  it  to  exchange  freedom  for  despotism,  edu- 
cation for  ignorance,  and  superstition  for  Christianity. 

Mexico  had  more  than  enough  of  homes  wrecked,  of  prop- 
erty grasped,  of  the  people  being  tyrannized  by  it;  hence  the 
members  of  every  religious  society,  from  the  Jesuits  to  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity  who  served  in  the  hospitals,  or  taught  in  the 


254  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


schools,  were  banished,  and  summarily  sent  out  of  the  country. 
As  a  result,  no  convent  or  monastery  now  openly  exists  in  Mex- 
ico ;  and  no  priest,  or  sister,  or  any  ecclesiastic  can  walk  the  streets 
in  any  distinctive  costume,  or  take  part  in  any  religious  parade 
or  procession;  and  this  in  towns  and  cities  where,  twenty  years 
ago  or  less,  the  life  of  a  foreigner  or  sceptic  who  did  not  promptly 
kneel  in  the  street  at  the  "procession  of  the  host"  was  imperiled. 
Again,  while  Catholic  worship  is  still  permitted  in  the  cathedrals 
and  in  a  sufficient  number  of  other  churches,  it  is  clearly  under- 
stood that  all  these  structures,  and  the  land  upon  which  they 
stand,  are  absolutely  the  property  of  the  Government,  liable  to 
be  sold  and  converted  to  other  uses  at  any  time,  and  that  the  offi- 
ciating clergy  are  only  "tenants  at  will."  Even  the  ringing  of  the 
church-bells  is  regulated  by  law.  All  those  rites,  furthermore, 
which  the  Catholic  Church  has  always  classed  as  among  her  holy 
sacraments  and  exclusive  privileges,  and  the  possession  of  which 
has  constituted  the  chief  source  of  her  power  over  society,  are  also 
now  regulated  by  civil  law.  The  civil  authority  registers  births, 
performs  the  marriage  ceremony,  and  provides  for  the  burial  of 
the  dead;  and,  while  the  marriage  ceremonies  are  not  prohibited 
to  those  who  desire  them,  they  are  legally  superfluous,  and  alone 
have  no  validity.  This  achievement  was  as  momentous  to  Mex- 
ico as  was  the  abolition  of  slavery  to  the  United  States.  Roman- 
ism was  worse  to  Mexico,  morally,  financially,  and  intellectually, 
than  was  slavery  to  the  Republic  of  the  United  States. 

Romanism  had  eaten  out  the  life  of  the  nation.  The  people 
saw  it.  .When  the  uprising  for  liberty  came,  the  Roman-Catholic 
Church  stood  across  the  track,  and  went  down  because  of  the 
triumph  of  free  thought.    The  invasion  of  the  home  by  the  priest- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  255 

hood  had  despoiled  it.    The  rule  of  the  priesthood  had  impover- 
ished the  people.     The  Church  held  property  to  the  amount  of 
three  hundred  million  dollars,  and  derived  a  revenue  of  over 
twenty-two  millions,  or  more  than  the  aggregate  of  all  the  reve- 
nues which  the  State  derived  from  its  customs  and  internal  taxes. 
Some  of  this  property  thrown  into  the  market  was  bought  by 
Protestant  denominations..    Thus  the  former  spacious  headquar- 
ters of  the  order  of  Franciscans,  with  one  of  the  most  elegant 
and  beautifully  proportioned  chapels  in  the  world  within  its  walls, 
and  fronting  in  part  on  the  Calle  de  San  Francisco,  the  most  fash- 
ionable street  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  was  sold  to  Bishop  Riley  and 
a  well-known  philanthropist  of  New  York,  acting  for  the  Ameri- 
can Episcopal  Missionary  Association,  at  an  understood  price  of 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  is  now  valued  at  over  two  hun- 
dred thousand.    In  like  manner  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  whose  motto  is  "North  America  for  Christ," 
have  gained  an  ownership  and  control  in  the  city  of  Pueblo,  of 
the  old  Palace  of  the  Inquisition,  and  have  a  large  printing  estab- 
lishment, school,  and  flourishing  church  in  Mexico.    The  former 
Palace  of  the  Inquisition  in  Mexico  is  now  a  medical  college, 
while  the  Plaza  de  San  Domingo,  and  where  the  auto  de  fe  was 
once  held,  is  now  used  as  a  market-place.    A  former  magnificent 
old  convent,  to  some  extent  reconstructed  and  repaired,  also  af- 
fords quarters  to  the  National  Library,  which,  in  turn,  is  largely 
made  up  of  spoils  gathered  from  the  libraries  of  the  religious 
"orders"  and  houses.    Is  it  not  possible  that  Americans  will  yet 
strip  Rome  in  the  United  States,  and  leave  her  naked  among  her 
enemies?    It  will  be  done  as  soon  as  freemen  comprehend  her 
true  character,. 


256  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Would  you  see  how  priests  invade  the  home,  read  the  official 
report  of  the  Mexican  Government  in  1879.  It  says,  "The  Mexi- 
can nation  was  for  a  long  time  dominated  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy,  which  came  to  establish  the  most  absolute  fanaticism  and 
the  most  complete  intolerance.  Not  only  was  the  exercise  of  any 
other  religion  save  that  of  the  Roman-Catholic  faith  permitted, 
but  for  a  long  time  the  Inquisition  prevailed,  with  all  its  horrors ; 
and  all  those  not  professing  the  Roman-Catholic  faith  were  con- 
sidered as  men  without  principle  or  morality.  The  exercise  of 
any  other  worship,  and  still  more,  the  propagation  of  any  other 
religion  except  the  Roman  Catholic,  would  have  occasioned  in 
Mexico,  up  to  a  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  the  death  of 
any  one  attempting  to  undertake  such  an  enterprise,  inasmuch  as 
it  was  considered  an  act  meritorious  in  the  eyes  of  the  Divinity, 
the  extermination  of  those  who  pretended  to  make  proselytes  in 
favor  of  any  other  religion." 

The  attitude  of  the  government  towards  the  Protestant  secti> 
is  seen  in  the  answer  of  the  governor  of  one  of  the  important 
states  of  Mexico,  to  a  Protestant  clergyman  who  had  made  appli- 
cation for  military  protection  for  his  church  against  a  threatened 
mob : — 

"Sir,  I  willingly  give  you  the  desired  protection,  as  It  is  my 
duty  to  see  that  the  laws  are  respected ;  and,  while  I  feel  no  inter- 
est whatever  in  your  religious  forms  or  opinions,  we  are  all  inter- 
ested in  encouraging  the  organization  of  a  body  of  clergy  strong 
enough  to  keep  the  old  Church  in  check."  "Whether  the  Catholic 
Church  will  accommodate  itself  to  the  new  order  of  things,  and 
be  content  to  live  peaceably  side  by  side  with  liberty  and  full  re- 
ligious toleration;  or  whether,  smarting  under  a  sense  of  injustice 


NINETEEMTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  2S7 

at  its.  spoliation,  and  restless  under  the  heavy  hand  of  an  antago- 
nistic government,  it  waits  its  opportunity  to  array  itself  against 
the  powers  that  be, — is  yet  to  be  determined." 

"They  may  be  illustrated,"  says  ex-Consul  Strother,  "by  a 
glance  at  the  grand  plaza  of  the  city,  across  an  angle  of  which  the 
palace  of  the  Liberal  Government  and  the  old  cathedral  stand 
looking  askance  at  each  other.  On  the  one  hand,  at  the  guard- 
mounting,  the  serried  lines  of  bayonets  and  the  rattling  drums 
appear  as  a  daily  reiterated  menace  and  warning.  On  the  other, 
we  might  naturally  expect  to  hear  from  the  cathedral  towers  a  re- 
sponsive peal  of  indignant  protest  and  sullen  defiance.  Yet  we 
remember  that  it  is  not  the  clergy,  but  the  government,  which 
holds  the  bell-rope." 

It  will  not  be  disputed  that  under  this  policy  more  has  been 
done  for  the  regeneration  and  progress  of  Mexico  than  in  all 
former  years.  "Not  only  has  freedom  for  religious  belief  and 
worship  been  secured,  but  a  system  of  common  schools  has  been 
estabUshed;  the  higher  branches  of  education  are  being  fostered; 
brigandage,  in  a  great  degree,  has  been  suppressed,  an  extensive 
railroad  and  telegraph  system  constructed,  postage  reduced,  and 
post-office  facilities  extended,  the  civil  and  military  law  codes 
revised  and  reformed,  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  national  debt 
in  part  renewed,  and  general  peace,  at  home  and  abroad,  main- 
tained. And  all  this  under  difficulties,  which,  when  viewed  ab- 
stractly and  collectively  by  a  foreign  observer,  seem  to  be  appall- 
ing and  insurmountable." 

Is  the  Roman-Catholic  Church  pleased  with  this  prosperity? 
Let  these  facts  answer.  A  recent  writer  says,  "In  no  country  on 
earth  does  the  hatred  against  Protestantism  burn  more  fierce  than 

(17) 


^fcB  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

in  Mexico.  Three  Protestants  were  recently  murdered  in  the 
State  of  Guerero  by  a  mob  of  Romanists.  Then  a  lady  school- 
teacher was  poisoned  to  break  up  her  school  in  Paraiso.  In 
Comalcalo  two  church-organs  have  been  burned,  and  Protestants 
have  been  fired  on  under  cover  of  darkness.  In  Tubasco  a  Pro- 
testant has  been  assassinated,  and  a  minister's  life  threatened." 
"True  charity,"  says  a  Roman-Catholic  paper  in  Mexico,  "is  to 
wound  and  kill,  if  it  be  done  for  the  Church."  "Faithful  Mex- 
ico!" is  the  applauding  shout  of  a  Roman-Catholic  paper  in  New 
York.  The  system  that  does  what  Romanism  has  accomplished 
for  Mexico  deserves  to  be  opposed. 

It  is  not  different  in  Ireland,  which,  in  the  southern  portion, 
is  little  more  or  less  than  a  Roman-Catholic  reservation.  It  is 
Rome  rule,  rather  than  Home  rule,  which  is  being  battled  for  by 
priests  and  papists.  Home  rule  has  Romanism  for  its  corner- 
stone, and  the  Pope  for  its  master.  Where  the  religion  of  Christ 
rules  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  Ireland,  there  is  thrift,  the  supre- 
macy of  the  law  is  recognized,  and  the  people  are  loyal  to  the 
empire. 

Cardinal  Manning  has  recently  said  that  "Romanists  never 
persecuted  Protestants."  It  is  a  popish  lie,  told  to  bolster  up  a 
popish  movement,  in  helping  to  re-establish  "Rome  rule  in  Ire- 
land," and  put  forth  without  a  blush  in  the  face  of  the  most  reli- 
able history.  In  1172  Nicholas  Breakspear,  an  Englishman,  was 
elected  to  the  See  of  Rome  under  the  name  of  Adrian  IV.  He 
gave  Ireland  to  Henry  II.  of  England,  under  the  condition  that 
the  Romish  faith  be  forced  upon  the  people,  and  that  the  Pope 
receive  one  penny  from  each  house  annually.  This  is  the  origin  of 
Peter's  Pence, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  269 

The  annals  of  Ulster  tell  of  the  horrible  persecutions  and 
massacres  that  followed  on.  The  Pope,  the  king,  and  the  army 
were  against  the  truth.  From  1500  to  1534,  is  a  bloody  page. 
Space  forbids  our  transcribing  it  in  full.  As  a  specimen  of  the 
cruelties  and  barbarities  that  distinguish  Rome  whenever  and 
wherever  she  gets  the  power,  and  as  a  presentation  in  tangible 
form  of  the  dread  of  the  Irish  people  of  any  movement  which 
proposes  to  surrender  them  to  Papal  rule,  read  this,  that  Sir  Wil- 
liam Temple  wrote.  He  uncovers  the  practices  of  Rome,  and 
shows  that  three  hundred  thousand  Protestants  were  massacred 
before  Cromwell  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  people.  He  says, 
"North,  south,  east,  and  west,  Protestant  blood  flowed  in  rivers; 
houses  were  reduced  to  ashes,  villages  and  towns  all  but  de- 
stroyed; the  very  cattle  of  the  Protestants  were  inhumanly  tor- 
tured; the  ony  burial  allowed  to  the  martyrs  was  the  burial  of  the 
living,  and  their  persecutors  took  fiendish  delight  in  hearing  their 
groans  and  cries  issuing  from  the  earth.  Popish  children  were 
taught  to  pluck  out  the  eyes  of  Protestant  playmates;  and  some 
were  forced  to  murder  their  own  relations,  and  then  butchered 
themselves  over  the  bleeding  remains,  the  last  sounds  that  reached 
their  dying  ears  being  the  savage  assurances  of  the  priests,  that 
their  agonies  were  but  the  commencement  of  eternal  torment." 

Dublin  alone  escaped,  and  became  a  refuge  for  the  distressed; 
but  all  the  popish  inhabitants  were  forbidden,  under  pain  of  the 
direct  curse,  to  afford  the  slightest  succor  to  the  sufferers.  Thou- 
sands died  of  cold  and  hunger;  thousands  more  emigrated.  In 
Armagh  four  thousand  Protestants  were  drowned.  In  Cavan  the 
road  for  twelve  miles  was  stained  by  the  blood  of  the  fugitives. 
Sixty  children  were  abandoned  in  the  flight  by  tiieir  parents. 


260  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


fiercely  hunted  by  the  bloodhounds  of  the  Papacy,  who  declared 
that  any  one  who  helped  or  even  buried  their  little  ones  should  be 
burned  by  their  sides.  Seventeen  adults  were  buried  alive  at  Fer- 
managh, and  in  Kilkenny  seventy-two.  In  the  province  of  Mun- 
ster  alone,  a  hundred  and  fifty- four  Protestants  were  massacred, 
or  expelled  from  Ireland.  And  yet  Cardinal  Manning  declares 
in  June,  1886,  that  Romanists  never  persecuted  Protestants;  and 
we  are  told  by  a  Protestant  minister  in  Boston,  in  1887,  of  the 
heneiicient  ministry  of  Romanism. 

In  1643  Pc>pe  Urban  VII.  granted  full  and  absolute  remis- 
sion of  all  sins  to  those  who  had  taken  part  in  gallantly  doing 
what  in  them  lay  to  extirpate  and  wholly  root  out  the  pestiferous 
leaven  of  heretical  contagion. 

Under  Elizabeth,  the  Irish  lords  and  commons  recognized 
and  generally  supported  the  English  Crown. 

James  II.,  a  Roman  Catholic,  betrayed  England,  and  turned 
to  the  Papist  of  Ireland  for  support.  Priests  thronged  the  court 
and  ruled  the  king.  Ireland  was  given  up  to  the  Papacy.  Towns 
in  which  almost  every  householder  was  an  English  Protestant 
were,  under  Rome  rule,  placed  under  the  government  of  Irish 
Roman  Catholics.  The  civil  power  was  transferred  from  the 
Saxon  to  the  Celtic  population.  Six  thousand  Protestants  were 
turned  out  of  the  army,  and  their  places  were  supplied  by  Roman 
Catholics.  The  new  soldier  never  passed  an  Englishman  without 
cursing  him,  and  calling  him  foul  names. 

Out  of  this  conflict  came  the  organization  of  Orange  lodges 
to  oppose  what  were  called  "the  Defenders,"  whose  oath  reads  as 
follows:  "I  swear  that  I  will  never  pity  the  moans  or  groans  of- 
the  dying  from  the  cradle  to  the  crutch,  ^n6.  that  I  will  wade  knee- 


'NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  261 

deep  in  Protestant  blood.  I  swear  that  I  am  to  bear  my  right  arm 
to  be  cut  off  before  I  will  waylay  or  betray  or  go  into  court  to 
prosecute  a  brother,  knowing  him  to  be  such."  A  man  acting 
contrary  to  this  oath  was  to  be  put  to  death  as  soon  as  possible. 
On  Sept.  i8,  1795,  five  hundred  of  these  so-called  Defenders  came 
from  Tyrone  into  Armagh,  and,  having  raised  the  rebel  flag,  pro- 
claimed their  purpose  of  extirpating  the  Protestants.  Then  came 
the  Orangemen  for  defence,  who  took  their  name  from  William 
III.,  Prince  of  Orange,  whose  memory  they  cherish,  because  that 
by  him  God  delivered  their  country  from  Popery  and  tyranny. 
Orangemen  hold  that  when  bad  men  conspire  for  the  destruction 
of  life,  property,  and  Christianity,  good  men  should  combine  to 
protect  them.  An  Orangeman  should  be  a  Protestant  in  reality 
and  truth, — not  merely  by  profession  or  education, — and  should 
be  distinguished  by  sincere  love  and  veneration  for  his  Almgihty 
Creator,  for  his  steadfast  faith  in  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  the 
only  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  humble  reliance  on  the 
guidance  and  purifying  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  con- 
stant practice  of  truth  and  justice,  brotherly  kindness  and  char- 
ity, loyalty  and  obedience  to  the  laws.  He  should  honor  and 
study  the  Holy  Scriptures,  making  them  the  rule  of  his  belief  and 
life,  uphold  and  defend  by  all  legitimate  means  the  Protestant 
faith  in  Church  and  State,  protest  against  and  oppose  the  erro- 
neous and  dangerous  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  resist  the  power,  ascendency,  encroachments,  and 
extension  of  the  Papacy. 

Orangemen  believe  that  the  people  of  Great  Britain  are  not 
ready  to  surrender  to  popery;  and  they  have  faith  in  God's  pur- 
pose in  affairs  as  communicated  to  mankind  through  His  Word, 


262  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OR  ROMANISM, 

in  education  along  lines  that  reject  superstition  and  the  blighting 
influences  of  the  Papacy,  and  that  Ireland's  curse  now,  as  in  the 
past,  lies  in — 

Rum,  Romanism,  and  Rebellion. 

Macaulay  says,  it  is  easy  to  explain  why  there  is  a  fear  of 
trusting  Roman  Catholics.  They  think  themselves  free  from  all 
the  ordinary  rules  of  morality.  The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, the  murder  of  the  first  William  Prince  of  Orange,  are  justi- 
fied and  praised.  Falsehood,  robbery,  and  every  crime  in  the 
calendar,  are  supported  and  sustained,  if  they  be  committed  for 
the  good  of  the  Church.  Romanism  here  and  everywhere  is  the 
enemy  of  morality  and  of  piety.  'The  Irish,"  says  Froude,  "will 
be  loyal  and  obedient  if  firmly  but  justly  governed."  Over  two 
hundred  thousand  Irishmen,  says  John  Bright,  are  neither  dis- 
contented, miserable,  nor  disloyal.  Give  Ireland  a  rest  from 
popish  plotting,  and  prosperity  will  come  back,  and  come  to  stay. 
Despite  all  this,  the  rule  of  the  priest  is  tolerated.  In  the  Roman- 
Catholic  home,  here  as  in  Ireland,  the  priest  is  master,  comes  be- 
tween the  husband  and  wife,  between  parents  and  children.  Un- 
til one  studies  Romanism,  and  descends  into  the  depths  of  the 
subject,  beholds  the  iniquities,  the  barbarities,  the  pollutions,  the 
degradation  incident  thereto,  much  of  the  Word  of  God  remains 
a  mystery.  Romanism  in  its  purpose  and  life  throws  light  on 
passages  that  without  it  would  seem  obscure.  Romish  priests 
contaminate  the  homes  where  their  influence  is  supreme.  In  their 
conversation  they  drift  towards  vileness  and  lasciviousness. 
Their  imagination  broods  over  forbidden  pleasures  and  ungrati- 
fied  desires.    Sinful  by  nature,  they  are  screened  in  wrong-doing 


Clara  Barton,  president  of  the  National  Red  Cross  Association,  who  re- 
lieved the  wants  of  starving  Cubans  and  administered  to  the 
suffering  American  Soldiers.  » 


264  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

as  in  no  other  class.  Should  a  priest  insult  or  attempt  an  assault 
upon  a  woman,  she  dare  not  reveal  it  under  pain  of  damnation, 
except  to  another  priest  in  confession,  who  is  not  only  bound  to 
secrecy,  but  in  honor  to  help  out  his  confrere.  Bishops  and  priests 
and  all  females  of  the  Roman-Catholic  Church  are  bound  to  pro- 
tect each  other  in  wrong-doing.  Virtue  is  on  sale.  The  priests 
can  pardon  the  woman  or  child  for  sinning,  and  then  absolve  each 
other,  in  this  infallible  Church  of  Rome.  . 

Into  the  Protestant  home  the  priest's  shadow  comes. 
Through  the  influence  of  servants  over  whom  they  exercise  an  al- 
most supreme  control,  they  give  tone  and  character  to  the  minds 
and  thoughts  of  the  young  committed  to  their  charge.  A  lady  of 
wealth  was  compelled  to  put  her  child  to  bed,  because  her  servant 
had  been  called  away.  On  reaching  the  room,  the  little  girl,  not 
older  than  five,  ran  to  the  bed,  pulled  out  a  string  of  beads,  and 
began  saying  her  "Ave  Maria."  The  mother  was  astounded  and 
amazed.  Without  a  word  of  reproof,  she  saw  the  little  child  bow 
and  cross  herself;  and  when  she  was  through,  she  said,  "Now  let 
us  say  our  prayer,  'Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven,'  "  and  then 

ended  with  the 

Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep," 

and,  kissing  her  child,  waited  until  she  saw  her  eyes  close  in  sleep, 
and  then  bowing  down,  asked  her  God  for  forgiveness,  and  the 
next  day  secured  a  Christian  attendant  for  her  child. 

The  influence  of  Roman-Catholic  servants  is  against  free- 
dom in  the  home. 

Priests  Insist  upon  young  mothers  being  churched.  This  is 
done  by  the  repetition  of  a  few  prayers  in  Latin,  a  sprinkling  of 
holy  water,  and  the  giving  of  a  good  fee.    And  the  woman  who 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  265 

does  not  submit  to  this  mummery  is  believed  by  many  a  Roman- 
Catholic  nurse  whom  she  may  employ  to  be  eternally  damned, 
together  with  her  child.  They  go  so  far  as  to  say  the  very  ground 
on  which  the  unchurched  mother  walks  is  cursed,  that  the  house 
in  which  she  lives  is  accursed,  and  that  all  she  says  and  does  is 
accursed.  Until  this  ceremony  is  performed,  none  'of  her  Catho- 
lic neighbors  will  hold  any  intercourse  with  her.  Of  course, 
every  Protestant  mother  and  child  is  under  the  ban,  and  the 
nurse  knows  it,  and  perhaps  acts  it.  In  this  way  does  the  priest 
invade  the  home. 

Through  schools  attached  to  nunneries,  a  great  influence  Is 
gained  in  homes  by  the  priest.  Priests,  by  their  opposition  to  the 
Bible,  have  banished  it  largely  from  the  schoolroom,  and  thus 
have  invaded  the  spiritual  life  of  all  homes  from  which  come  the 
children  of  the  public  school. 

Priests  by  their  opposition  to  the  Bible,  make  the  servants 
unfit  trainers  for  the  children  of  the  home.  Every  child  Is  In- 
fluenced more  or  less  by  the  hired  help.  The  old-fashioned  girl, 
who  was  as  much  a  companion  as  a  servant,  was  a  treasure.  To 
the  mother  she  was  counsellor  and  friend,  to  children  guide  and 
companion.  Her  open  Bible,  or  big  lettered  Testament,  what  a 
treasury  of  wisdom,  what  a  fountain  of  life  and  love  it  was.  Who 
can  forget  the  Bible  stories  with  which  she  charmed  the  ear, 
while  she  watched  the  corn  popping  over  the  fire,  or  the 
molasses  cooking  for  the  candy-pull?  Who  ever  yet  shook  off 
the  Influence  of  such  a  teacher  ?  She  had  to  do  with  forming  the 
minds  and  shaping  the  destinies  of  men  and  women  who  now  rank 
highest  In  the  world's  regard.  In  the  kitchen  where  the  Romish 
servant  Is  head,  the  Bible  Is  banished.    "The  Garden  of  the  Soul," 


266  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


a  charming  name  for  a  book  full  of  error,  may  have  taken  its 
place,  but  the  trend  of  that  portion  of  the  home  is,  almost  without 
an  exception,  against  Christ  and  His  Word.  Many  a  Jesuit  of 
culture  enters  the  kitchen  as  a  servant,  to  give  the  priest  power  in 
the  home.  Romish  priests  invade  the  home  through  the  ballots 
which  they  control.  Warnings  enough  were  sounded  out  against 
woman  suffrage.  It  was  said  then  that  the  priest  could  control  the 
Roman  Catholic  w^orking  women,  and  by  them  elect  the  boards 
of  education,  and  so  get  control  of  our  schools.  The  warnings 
were  unheeded.  The  mischief  is  now  apparent  in  the  lack  of  a 
majority  on  the  School  Board,  and  the  giving  of  the  schools  over 
to  Rome.  Teachers  that  love  God's  word  are  pushed  out,  and  the 
places  are  given  to  those  who  make  the  ''sign  of  the  cross."  This 
is  but  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Books  full  of  praise  for  Protes- 
tant statesmen  are  exchanged  for  books  which  lift  to  the  front 
devotees  of  Rome.  To-day  Romanists  seek  to  prove  that 
America  was  discovered  by  Roman  Catholics ;  that  freedom  was 
obtained  by  their  aid,  and  that  for  all  we  are,  or  may  hope  to  be, 
we  are  under  obligation  to  Rome.  This  country  is  to  be  brought, 
we  are  told,  under 

The  Spiritual  Control  of  Rome.       ^ 

"Spiritual"  with  Rome  means  things  real  and  tangible,  such 
as  r^l  estate,  the  conveying  it  from  the  rightful  owner  under  the 
laws  of  the  land  to  another  under  the  laws  of  the  Pope.  This 
thing  was  tried  in  China.  The  Jesuits  were  summoned  before  the 
commissioner;  and  when  their  real  purpose  was  ascertained,  the 
emperor  instantly  issued  an  order  directing  that  every  Roman 
Catholic  Bishop,  priest,  friar,  Jesuit,  monk,  and   nun   quit  the 


mNETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM^         2W 


country  within  a  given  time  on  pain  of  losing  tlieir  fiefads.  Many 
of  them  disobeyed  the  order,  and  were  executed,  and  their 
churches  were  levelled  with  the  ground.  The  Chinese  had  no 
objection  to  Papists  worshipping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences,  but  as  soon  as  it  was  discovered  that  they 
owed  allegiance  to  a  foreign  power,  and  were  working  in  his  in- 
terest, the  Chinese  saw  their  peril,  and  struck  at  it  with  haste  and 
fierceness,  as  was  done  in  Europe,  in  Mexico,  and  as  will  be  done 
in  the  United  States.  Americans  will  yet  resist  this  priestly  in- 
trusion, and  will  insist  that  the  men  who  vote,  and  who  hold  office, 
shall  be  Americans,  and  that  the  tie  binding  them  to  the  Vatican 
be  severed  in  order  that  they  may  give  their  love,  thought  and 
support  to  the  institutions  that  shelter  them. 

When  priests  shall  wed,  they  will  become  the  head  of  homes. 
Noble  women  will  share  their  heart  love  and  their  toil.  They  will 
exchange  impurity  for  purity;  a  woman  without  a  name,  and 
without  a  place  of  respectful  regard,  for  the  wife  of  a  pastor,  who 
in  the  Church  is  a  helpmeet  as  in  the  home  she  is  a  partner. 

America  is  the  land  of  homes.  Romanists  are  becoming 
Americanized.  Among  her  clergy  are  a  great  many  men  better 
than  the  system  which  would  degrade  and  fetter  them.  They  owe 
it  to  the  people,  they  owe  it  to  themselves,  they  owe  it  to  human 
nature  that  should  not  be  despoiled,  to  marry,  and  to  claim  and 
contend  for  the  right  of  marriage.  If  the  papacy  needs  a  degraded 
and  a  degrading  priesthood  to  perpetuate  its  power,  then  we  do 
not  need,  and  ought  not  to  tolerate  or  lend  our  support  to,  the 
papacy.  Romanists  are  competitors  for  fame,  for  position,  and  for 
power.  In  art,  in  science,  and  in  literature,  her  votaries  find  con- 
genial pursuits.    All  that  elevates  ennobles;  all  that  degrades 


268  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

'disgraces.  Out  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  are  coming 
many  of  her  noblest  and  best  priests,  because  they  cannot  be  true 
to  their  higher  natures,  and  go  through  the  degrading  ritual  of 
the  confessional.  As  a  result,  another  and  an  inferior  class  are 
taking  their  places,  some  of  the  poorest  and  worst,  rather  than  of 
the  noblest  and  best.  As  at  present  organized,  it  is  not  possible 
for  a  priest  to  secure  for  his  home  a  pure  and  chaste  woman.  The 
value  of  such  a  woman  should  not  be  overlooked.  For  companion- 
ship they  are  driven  to  the  vile.  It  is  because  of  this,  "the  Sub- 
stitution for  Marriage"  was  invented.  It  is  because  of  this,  priests 
are  so  frequently  found  with  harlots  in  their  terrible  drunken 
revels,  whether  in  nunneries  or  hotels.  Without  improving  so- 
ciety in  the  home,  with  their  thoughts  turned  into  impure  channels 
in  the  confessional,  where  they  come  into  the  presence  of  women, 
we  can  see  how  utterly  they  lack  the  help  and  support  enjoyed  by 
those  whose  lives  are  blessed  by  the  companionship  of  a  woman  of 
heart,  of  culture,  and  of  piety. 

AVhat  is  bad  for  the  priest  is  terrible  for  the  women.  Nothing 
can  be  worse,  nothing  more  corrupting,  than  the  law  which  forces 
the  female  to  tell  her  thoughts,  desires,  and  most  secret  feelings 
and  actions,  to  an  unmarried  priest.  American  Catholic  women 
deserve  emancipation  from  this  thraldom.  The  confessional  is  a 
school  of  pollution.  Let  it  be  closed.  It  is  not  more  a  necessity  in 
a  Roman  Catholic  than  in  a  Baptist  Church.  Acquaint  the  law 
makers  of  the  land  with  the  polluting  and  degrading  influences 
imperilling  the  life  of  woman  through  the  confessional,  and  they 
would,  by  the  most  stringent  laws,  prohibit  auricular  confession 
as  a  crime  against  society.  The  best  remedy  is  for  the  priest  to 
marry.   Then  the  wifely  influence  would  make  short  work  of  a 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM.  269 

priest  being  closeted  hour  after  hour  with  women,  conversing  on 
topics  which  could  not  be  tolerated  before  a  third  person,  and 
which  disgraces  and  degrades  those  who  thus  lay  siege  to  and  plot 
the  ruin  of  the  soul. 

Then  the  leaders  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  would 
become  American  rather  than  Italian  in  sympathy,  and  they  would 
build  up  their  people  in  morality  and  purity.  To  achieve  this  re- 
sult, the  help  is  required  of  the  better  portion  of  the  priesthood, 
and  of  the  brainy  and  noble  Roman  Catholics  who  are  interested 
in  the  elevation  and  disinthralment  of  mankind.  Then  no  longer 
will  the  reproach  come  upon  them  of  having  their  wives  and 
daughters  associating  with  men  who  keep  company  with  harlots, 
and  who  go  unblushingly  from  the  brothel  to  the  altar,  but  they 
will  mingle  with  men  of  pure  lives,  and  of  noble  purposes.  It  is 
for  Americans  breathing  the  free  air  of  liberty,  whose  children 
are  being  educated  with  their  sons  and  daughters  in  the  public 
schools,  to  demand  a  married  priesthood  for  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  this  New  World. 

With  the  evangelical  portion  of  the  community,  the  home 
has  been  the  transcendant  glory  of  their  lives.  In  the  North  and 
South,  in  the  East  and  West,  the  home  is  man's  castle,  and  cursed 
be  he  who  invades  it.  In  common  with  others,  Roman  Catholics 
need  to  share  in  this  blessing. 

Opposed  to  this  purity  is  the  confessional,  that  bottomless 
sea  of  iniquity,  in  which  the  blind  priests  of  Rome  have  to  swim 
day  and  night.  It  ought  not  to  exist  in  the  world.  Let  the  true 
men  and  women  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  outside  of  it, 
contend  for  a  pure  Christian  home,  and  the  boon  will  be  secured, 
and  a  victory  will  be  won  that  shall  scatter  the  cloud  that  darkens 


270  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

the  path  of  Romanists,  and  millions  will  find  their  way  back  to 
the  halcyon  days  of  Ambrose,  before  the  shadow  of  the  iron  scep- 
tre of  Hildebrand  cursed  the  world.  Then  confidence  shall  take 
the  place  of  suspicion,  and  the  priesthood  of  the  Romish  Church 
shall  join  with  the  ministry  at  large  to  secure  an  ennobling  civi- 
lization for  the  land  we  love,  and  the  God  we  serve. 

Those  who  have  climbed  the  snow-clad  peaks  of  the  Alps 
know  how  much  depends  upon  the  guide,  and  understand  the 
value  of  the  steel  points  on  the  shoes,  and  at  the  end  of  his  alpen- 
stock. They  see  him  bind  a  rope  about  himself,  which  is  fastened 
to  those  that  follow  him,  so  that,  if  the  feet  of  one  traveler  go  out 
from  beneath  him,  all  the  rest  may  unite  in  holding  him  up.  There 
is  a  sure  guide  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  Captain  of  our 
salvation.  Where  he  leads,  it  is  safe  to  follow.  Rome  needs  His 
help,  and  so  do  we  all.  Let  us  demand  that  God's  Book — Christ's 
New  Testament — have  its  rightful  place.    Let  us  speak  out. 

God  says,  "Mine  eyes  shall  be  upon  the  faithful  of  the  land, 
that  they  dwell  with  me."  "He  that  walketh  in  a  perfect  way  shall 
serve  me."  The  home  should  be  earth's  training  place  for  heaven. 
Let  not  the  lecherous  priest  invade  it.  Hold  it  for  the  pure.  Make 
it  the  resting  place  for  the  good.  Have  in  it  an  altar.  On  it  place 
the  open  Bible.  Round  it  gather  the  household,  and  from  it  look 
across  the  flood,  and  catch  glimpses  of  the  eternal  gates.  Beyond 
them  is  the  city  of  our  God.  The  unclean  cannot  enter  there,  and 
yet  it  is  thronged  by  a  multitude  no  man  can  number,  who 
have  come  up  out  of  great  tribulations,  and  have  had  their  robes 
washed,  and  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 


General  Robert  E.  Lee,  whose  name  is  revered  by  every  true  Southerner 

and  admired  by  every  true  American,  both  North  and  South,  was 

perhaps  the  greatest  admirer  of  Patriotic  Protestantism  of 

any  noted  American  that  ever  lived  or  died. 


Chapter  XVII. 


Our  Common  Schools,  and  Why  Catholics 
Should  Not  Be  Teachers. 


If  the  Public  Schools  of  America  are  not  good  enough  for 
the  children  of  Catholic  parents,  and  the  Pope  and  his  followers 
believe  that  the  common  schools  of  this  country  are  "plague 
spots,"  what  right  has  a  Catholic  to  be  permitted  by  Americans 
and  Protestants  to  teach  our  children  ?  This  is  a  problematic  ques- 
tion that  is  a  hard  question  for  our  Catholic  brethren  to  answer. 
Why  does  not  the  Pope  promulgate  a  "holy  bull,"  and  excommu- 
nicate those  of  his  believers  who  take  the  money  so  freely  for 
their  services  in  the  Public  Schools  of  this  country  ?  Oh,  no !  the 
Pope  and  the  priestcraft  are  perfectly  willing,  so  long  as  Protes- 
tants have  the  power  to  maintain  these  schools,  that  their  Jesuiti- 
cal dupes  shall  receive  the  money  that  is  set  aside  for  these  schools. 
My  blood  fairly  boils  with  unbounded  indignation  when  I  think 
of  the  hard,  harsh,  and  ungodly  slurs  that  CathoHcism  is  ever 
ready  to  throw  at  our  Public  School  system,  and  then  see  blind 
Protestants  help  to  place  a  Catholic  teacher  in  one  of  our  schools. 


274  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF,  ROMANISM. 

I  am  constrained  at  times  to  exclaim,  ''  consistency,  thou  art  a 
jewel,"  for  well  does  every  intelligent  Protestant  know,  that  if 
the  Catholic  dignitaries  had  the  power,  that  the  "little  red  school 
house"  that  is  ever  dear  to  an  American,  would  be  presided  over 
by  a  representative  of  Rome. 

|We  propose  to  give  facts  and  figures  in  this  chapter  that  we 
hope  will  open  the  eyes  of  drowsy,  unconcerned  Protestants,  and 
help  them  to  see  where  their  carelessness  will  lead  them  and  their 
children  ere  long,  unless  they  apply  the  brakes  to  their  downward 
course,  and  spike  the  guns  of  the  Vatican  with  American  man- 
hood. We  again  will  quote  from  "Romanism,  or  Danger  Ahead," 
by  our  friend,  Mr.  Phillips,  and  we  trust  by  the  time  the  reader  has 
finished  this  chapter,  he  or  she  will  be  ready  to  make  inquiries 
who  is  to  teach  their  children  in  the  Public  Schools.  Let  me  ask 
any  Protestant  if  they  ever  heard  of  a  Protestant  teaching  in  a 
Catholic  school  ?  Oh,  no !  But  then  you  will  fold  your  hands  and 
be  content  to  allow  your  children  taught  by  a  man  or  woman  that 
secretly  despises  the  Public  School  system.  Shame !  Ten  thousand 
times  we  exclaim  you  should  be  ashamed  for  not  asserting  your 
American  and  God-given  privileges  of  Protestantism,  gained  for 
you  through  the  blood  of  your  forefathers. 

A  general  system  of  education,  such  as  affords  all  alike  an 
opportunity  to  cultivate  and  expand  the  intellect,  the  poor  as  well 
as  the  rich,  is,  beyond  all  question,  one  of  the  greatest  blessings 
that  any  nation  can  enjoy.  Such  a  system  had  its  birth  in  America 
while  it  was  yet  comparatively  free  from  the  blighting  influence 
of  a  religio-political  corporation  whose  whole  history  is  one  unin- 
terrupted and  relentless  war  upon  every  system  of  education  which 
broadens  the  intellect  and  causes  people  to  think.    In  America  was 


MXETEEXTH  CEXTCRY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  275 

born  the  Public  Free  School  system,  and  from  the  date  of  Its  birth 
in  1695,  to  the  present,  it  has  been  the  means  of  giving  to  this 
nation  its  most  renowned  statesmen,  jurists,  patriots,  agricultur- 
ists, teachers  and  divines.  It  is  one  of  the  principal  agents  by 
which  the  United  States  of  America  has  been  enabled  to  advance 
to  the  very  first  rank  in  all  things  that  makes  a  nation  great. 

But  against  this  most  sacred  product  of  American  liberty, 
Rome  lifts  her  unholy  hands.  Against  our  schools  she  hurls  her 
worst  anathemas.  But  it  is  our  purpose  in  these  chapters  to  let 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  speak  for  itself.  Its  language  is 
plain  and  needs  no  interpretation. 

These  public  schools  are  a  devouring  fire  and  pits  of  destruc- 
tion. They  ought  to  go  back  to  the  devil,  whence  they  came. — 
The  Freeman's  Journal. 

If  your  son  or  daughter  is  attending  a  State  school,  you  may 
be  sure  that  you  are  violating  your  duty  as  Catholic  parents,  and 
conducing  to  the  everlasting  anguish  and  despair  of  your  child, 
as  if  you  could  take  your  oath  of  it.  Take  him  away.  Let  him 
rather  never  know  how  to  write  his  name  than  to  become  the 
bound  and  chained  slave  of  Satan. — The  Shepherd  of  the  Valley. 

The  common  schools  of  this  country  are  sinks  of  moral 
pollution  and  nurseries  of  hell. — Chicago  Tablet. 

The  public,  or  common  schools  system  is  a  swindle  on  the 
people,  an  outrage  on  justice,  a  foul  disgrace  in  matters  of  morals, 
and  should  be  abolished  forthwith. — N.  Y.  Tablet. 

The  hid«Dus  fetish,  called  the  Public  School,  Is  only  an  ugly 
idol  after  all. — Colorado  Catholic. 

It  will  be  a  glorious  day  for  Roman  Catholics  in  this  country 
when,  under  the  laws  of  justice  and  morality,  our  school  system 
shall  be  shivered  to  pieces. — Catholic  Telegraph. 


276  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

We  hold  education  to  be  a  function  of  the  Church,  and  not 
of  the  State,  and  in  our  case  we  do  not  and  will  not  accept  the 
State  as  an  educator. — N.  Y.  Tablet. 

They  love  darkness  rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  are 
evil. 

Unless  you  suppress  the  Public  School  system  as  at  present 
conducted,  it  will  prove  the  damnation  of  this  country. — Father 
Walker. 

I  frankly  confess  that  the  Catholics  stand  before  the  country 
as  the  enemies  of  the  Public  Schools. — Father  Phelan. 

The  duty  of  all  loyal,  God-fearing  Christian  men  (Roman 
Catholics)  then,  I  repeat  it,  is  to  make  common  cause  against  this 
common  foe. — Father  Gleason,  Oakland,  Cal. 

The  Public  Schools  have  produced  nothing  but  a  godless 
generation  of  thieves  and  blackguards. — Priest  Schatier. 

I  would  as  soon  administer  the  sacrament  to  a  dog  as  to 
Catholics  who  send  their  children  to  the  Public  Schools. — Priest 
Walker. 

The  Public  School  system  must  be  destroyed.  It  must  be 
done  by  stopping  Bible  reading,  psalm  singing,  and  eliminating 
objectionable  books. — Priest  Phelan. 

To  rescue  these  little  ones  out  of  the  grasp  of  that  monster 
(the  Public  School)  of  that  popular  idol,  is  our  work. — Bishop 
John  Hcnnessy. 

We  can  have  the  United  States  in  ten  years.  And  I  want  to 
give  you  three  points  for  your  consideration:  the  negroes,  the 
Indians,  and  the  Public  Schools. — Bishop  Ireland. 

Emphatically  a  social  plague. — ^Archbishop  Ferche. 


NINETUENTII  CUNTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISAI.  277 

'A  ripe  knowledge  of  the  catechism,  minus  Massachusetts 
education,  is  preferable  to  her  education,  minus  the  catechism. — 
Cardinal  Antonelli. 

The  common  school  system  of  the  United  States  is  the  worst 
in  the  world. — Cardinal  Manning. 

The  cathechism  alone  is  essential  for  the  education  of  the 
people. — Cardinal  Antonelli. 

We  must  take  part  in  the  elections.  Move  in  solid  mass  in 
every  State  pledged  to  sustain  the  integrity  of  the  Public  Schools. 
Cardinal  McCloskey. 

The  Roman  Churdi  alone  is  endowed  with  power  to  educate 
the  young. — Cardinal  McCloskey. 

Education  outside  of  the  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  a  damnable  heresy. — Pius  IX. 

Public  Schools  open  to  all  children  for  the  education  of  the 
young  should  be  under  the  control  of  the  Romish  Church,  and 
should  not  be  subject  to  civil  power,  nor  made  to  conform  to  the 
opinions  of  the  ages. — Pope  Pins  IX. 

When  I  see  them  drag  from  me  the  children,  the  poor  little 
children,  and  give  them  an  infidel  education,  it  breaks  my  heart. — 
Pope  Pins  IX. 

It  is  desirable,  therefore,  venerable  brethren,  that  in  concert 
w^ith  your  colleagues  in  the  Episcopate,  your  efforts  and  your  zeal 
guard  Catholic  children  from  frequenting  schools  in  which  their 
religious  instruction  is  neglected,  and  open  danger  incurred  of 
spiritual  loss.  Therefore,  we  vehemently  desire,  as  has  already 
been  intimated  to  you  by  the  Propaganda,  that  in  approaching 
Episcopal  meetings  you  carefully  discuss  the  measures  that  may: 


278  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

best  help  to  attain  this  end.    We  wish  you  also  to  use  earnest 

efforts  that  the  civil  magistrates,  who  know  full  well  that  nothing 
is  more  advantageous  to  the  commonwealth  and  religion,  should 
provide,  by  the  enactment  of  wise  laws,  that  the  office  of  teaching, 
which  is  carried  on  at  the  expense  of  the  public,  including  conse- 
quently the  contributions  of  Catholics,  should  contain  nothing 
that  stands  in  the  way  of  their  conscience  or  runs  foul  of  their  re- 
ligion.— Pope  Leo  XIII. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  not  only  opposes  our  Ameri- 
can free  school  system,  but  it,  as  a  Church,  is  opposed  to  educat- 
ing at  all.  From  the  Peabody  Reporter  we  take  the  following 
table,  the  truth  of  which  will  be  corroborated  by  the  official  report 
of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education.  The  Reporter 
says : 

"To  every  10,000  inhabitants  under  the  Roman  Catholic 
school  system  there  were  1,400  illiterates,  410  paupers,  160  crim- 
inals, while  by  the  Public  School  system  of  21  States,  there  were 
to  every  10,000  inhabitants  350  illiterates,  170  paupers  and  70 
criminals." 

So  you  see  the  difference  between  the  much  cursed  free 
schools  and  the  Romish  schools  in  producing  illiterates.  The 
Romish  schools  produce  1,050  more  illiterates  than  the  Public 
Schools,  240  more  paupers,  and  90  more  criminals,  still,  the 
Romish  Church  says  that  the  public  free  school  is  godless. 

But  the  practical  effect  and  working  result  which  the  control 
or  overshadowing  influence  of  the  Roman  Church  has  upon 
education,  whenever  such  control  or  influence  exists,  is  best 
shown  by  contrasting  the  percentage  of  illiterates  in  those  coun- 
tries where  Romanism  and  Protestantism  are  respectively  the 
dominant  religions  of  the  people.   It  will  be  seen  that  whatever 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


279 


the  reason  may  be,  the  result  of  the  two  influences  is  widely  dif- 
ferent, that  Romanism  has  a  blighting  effect  upon  public  educa- 
tion, and  that  it  leads  to,  or  is  contented  with  illiteracy  to  an  as- 
tounding degree;  in  short,  that  in  eight  of  the  largest  countries 
in  America  and  Europe,  where  the  Roman  Catholics  are  in  the 
ascendency,  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  many  times  greater  than 
it  is  in  the  eight  Protestant  countries  of  the  same  portions  of  the 
world. 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  COUNTRIES. 


Area 
Square 
Miles. 


Population. 


60  cf5 


TO     O 


IS 


Venezuela 
Austria  1 
Hungary  J 

France  

Brazil 

Spain 

Portugal 

Belgium 

Italy 


Total. 


439,120 

240,942 

204,092 

3,219,000 

191,100 

36,028 

11,373 

110,620 


2,075,245 

39,224,511 

38,218,903 
19,922,375 
16,958,178 
4,708,178 
5,520,009 
28,459,628 


4,452,275    148,087,027  731.1    476.94 


90. 

67.6 

78.5 

99. 

99. 

99. 

99. 

99. 


90. 

32. 

25. 
84. 
60. 
82. 
42. 
61.94 


Average  Eight  Countries 91.3      59.61 


PROTESTANT  COUNTRIES. 


Area 
Square 
Miles. 


Population. 


fc  Oh 


S2 


Victoria 

Sweden  

Switzerland 

Netherlands  ... 

Germany 

Denmark 

Great  Britain. 
United  States 


87,884 
170,979 

15.892 

12,984 
211,149 

14,121 

120,832 

3,501,404 


1,009,753 

4,682,769 

1,846,102 

4,336,012 

46,852,680 

1,980,259 

30,066,646 

57,928,609 


75. 

99. 

59. 

66. 

62.6 

99. 

93.3 

86.4 


0.33 

.30 

.30 

10.50 

1.27 

.36 

11.09 

9.40 


Total 


4,134,309    140,702,830 


638.3 


35.225 


Average  Eight  Countries 


79.78 


4.256 


This  tabular  statement  is  from  data  furnished  by  the  reports  of  the  U.  S. 
Commissioner  of  Education,  the  documents  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Educa* 
cation,  the  census  of  1880  and  the  Statesman's  Year  Book  for  1887. 


2S0  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

The  conditions  of  the  statistics  are  not  alike  in  all  cases,  but 
they  are  sufficiently  so  as  to  give  an  approximately  correct  result. 
These  eight  Roman  Catholic  countries,  which  we  have  contrasted 
with  eight  Protestant  countries,  form  two  groups,  each  covering 
an  area  of  over  4,000,000  square  miles,  and  they  contain  about 
150,000,000  people.  In  the  one  group,  the  Romanists  show  an 
average  percentage  of  91.3.  In  the  other  group  the  Protestants 
show  an  average  percentage  of  79.78.  Each  religion  is  respec- 
tively dominant  in  its  own  group.  But  right  here  similarity  ceases. 
While  the  average  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
group  is  59.61,  or  over  half  the  population,  the  average  percentage 
of  illiteracy  in  the  Protestant  group  is  only  4.156.  In  other 
words,  illiteracy  in  the  Roman  CathoHc  group  is  14.343  times 
greater  than  in  the  Protestant  group. 

A  religious  system  which  turns  out  or  tolerates,  as  you 
please,  an  average  of  sixty  illiterates  out  of  every  hundred  inhab- 
itants of  the  countries  it  controls,  we  wish  to  have  no  hand  or 
voice  in  our  public  education.  We  must  reject  any  interference 
from  a  system  which  produces  on  an  average  nearly  fifteen  times 
as  many  ignorant  adults  as  are  found  in  Protestant  countries. 

The  hostility  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  public  educa- 
tion is  so  pronounced  and  so  abundantly  expressed  through  the 
different  representatives  of  that  corporation,  that  our  astonish- 
ment knows  no  bounds  when  we  see  the  growing  indifference  of 
the  American  people  to  the  rapidity  with  which  our  PubHc 
Schools  are  being  Romanized.  In  many  States,  through  Roman 
Catholic  influence,  the  Bible,  the  basis  of  all  civil  and  religious 
liberty  has  been  legislated  out  of  the  Public  Schools,  and  the 
Romish  prayer  book  and  catechism  placed  in  them.    Not  only  so. 


MXlTELXTH  CHXrVRY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  281 


but  in  many  of  the  States,  through  the  manipulations  of  the 
priests,  Romanists  have  been  placed  upon  the  school  boards,  and 
they,  obedient  to  their  superiors,  dismiss  Protestant  teachers  and 
place  over  the  children  of  this  country,  Roman  Catholic  teachers, 
who  constantly  violate  the  constitutions  of  both  State  and  Nation 
by  teaching  Romish  sectarian  religion  to  the  American  youth  at 
public  expense. 

In  this  chapter  we  present  the  reader  with  further  evidence 
of  the  hostility  of  Rome  to  our  educational  system,  and  also  a  few 
specimens  of  Romish  education  as  carried  on  under  the  sanction, 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

We  introduce  again  the  Pope  himself,  who,  in  his  forty-fifth 
encyclical,  says: 

The  Romish  Church  has  the  right  to  interfere  in  the  discip- 
line of  the  Public  Schools,  and  in  the  arrangements  of  studies  of 
Public  Schools,  and  in  the  choice  of  the  teachers  of  these  schools. 
Public  Schools,  open  to  all  children  for  the  education  of  the 
young,  should  be  under  the  control  of  the  Romish  Church,  and 
should  not  be  subject  to  the  civil  power,  nor  made  to  conform  to 
the  opinions  of  the  age. 

From  '"'Judges  of  Faith,"  a  standard  Roman  Catholic  work, 
by  an  eminent  Catholic  author,  we  make  the  following  extracts. 
On  page  3,  we  read : 

'These  pages  make  no  pretense  to  dictate  to  either  State  or 
individual  in  their  own  provinces;  neither  is  it  expected  of,  or 
designed  by,  a  Catholic  that  he  should  aid  in  any  secret  conspiracy 
for  the  bootless  enterprise  of  suddenly  overthrowing  a  public 
legal  system,  unlawful  though  that  system  be.  We  bring  home 
to  the  consciences  of  Catholics,  that  it  is  their  duty  to  continue 


General  Joseph  Wheeler,  of  Alabama,  who  was  first  to  strike  terror  to 

Catholicism  in  Cuba,  and  has  recently  gone  to  the  Philippine 

Islands  to  shatter  the  Romish  mask  there. 


NIXETME^'TH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  2S8 

deserting  all  mere  secular  schools,  and  building  schools  of  their 
own,  until  public  opinion  itself  undermine  what  contains  the 
source  of  its  own  downfall  (now  notice  this  last  word),  and  we 
be  relieved  of  unjust  taxes." 

On  page  6,  the  following  quotation  is  a  direct  thrust  at 
Masonry,  Odd  Fellowship,  Knights  of  Pythias,  etc.  He  charac- 
terizes them  as  God-hating  European  societies. 

The  equal  advance  of  God-hating  European  societies  with 
God-eliminating  systems  of  popular  instruction,  ought  to  enforce 
co-operation  with  the  simultaneous,  energetic  action  of  our  glori- 
ous Leo,  smiting  with  one  arm  the  audacious  chiefs  of  secret 
revolutions,  while  with  the  other  he  shields  the  cradles  and  fire- 
sides of  Christian  homes.  And  Catholics  will  continue  building 
schools  on  their  own  grounds;  until,  like  the  many  deserted  sec- 
tarian temples  which  are  legally  acquired  by  inpouring  children 
of  the  Church,  the  future  State  School  buildings,  left  empty  by 
Catholics  deserting  them,  and  non-Catholics  becoming  practical- 
ly disgusted  with  the  unrepublican  and  unchristian  system,  shall 
also  be  lawfully  acquired,  and  occupied  by  denominational 
schools. 

The  author  is  very  earnest  in  his  appeal  to  the  faithful  of  the 
Church  to  break  down  the  educational  system,  so  long  the 
cherished  pride  of  the  country,  and  to  tear  the  children  from  the 
lap  of  liberty  and  save  them  to  the  Church.    He  says : 

The  faithful  are  required,  by  conforming  to  the  word  of 
Christ's  Viceregent,  their  head  and  the  head  of  all  the  militant 
faithful,  to  break  down  these  schools;  by  doing  their  bounden 
duty  in  every  country  where  the  government,  or  others,  publicly 
or  privately,  seek  to  divorce  education  from  religion,  by  tearing 


284  NINETECNTII  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

the  children  of  the  Church  from  her  bosom,  to  nurse  them  on  the 
lap  of  a  Pagan  goddess  of  liberty. 

So  well  has  Lansing,  in  his  "Romanism  and  the  Republic," 
presented  this  matter  that  we  take  the  liberty  of  quoting  him.  He 
says :   On  the  86th  page  we  have  the  following  declaration : 

The  doctrine  that  godless  schools  are  good  enough  for 
Catholic  children  is  explicitly  condeinned  by  the  authority  of  the 
Church. 

This  is  the  declaration  of  the  late  Bishop  Rosecrans,  in  Lent, 
1873.    Then  follows  this  remarkable  statement: 

The  sons  of  the  crusaders  are  not  yet  extinct.  They  live, 
they  breathe,  they  fight;  not  now  for  the  sepulchre  of  Christ,  for 
the  honor  of  the  dead  now  risen  to  die  no  more,  but  for  his  cradl*e, 
and  that  of  his  holy  spouse,  the  Church;  for  the  living  sons  of 
God,  foully  betrayed,  robbed  and  plundered,  of  goods  and 
spiritual  life  by  the  ruthless  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

That  is  supposed  to  describe  our  school  system.  On  the 
eighty-seventh  page  it  is  declared  by  the  late  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Toebbe, 
Bishop  of  Covington : 

The  Puplic  Schools  are  infidel  and  godless,  and  must  there- 
fore be  avoided. 

On  the  eighty-ninth  page  we  have  the  same  declaration,  in 
the  following  words,  from  the  Bishop  St.  Palais,  of  Vincennes, 
Indiana,  who  is  characterized  as  a  saint : 

We  object  to  the  Public  Schools  on  account  of  tiie  infidel 
source  from  which  they  originated  (there  is  history  for  you!); 
we  object  to  those  schools  because  the  teachings  of  religion  is  ex- 
cluded from  them,  and  such  exclusion  will  inevitably  produce 
religious  indifference,  if  not  infidelity.  We  object  to  these  schools 


NINETECXTII  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  RC'^LiNISM.  2S5 

again,  because  the  promiscuous  assembling  of  both  sexes  of  a 
certain  age  is  injurious  to  the  morals  of  the  children;  and  because 
we  dread  associations  which  might,  in  time  prove  pernicious  to 
them,  and  distressing  to  their  parents. 

And  later,  on  page  ninety,  he  says  that  duty  compels  him  to 
instruct  pastors  to  refuse  absolution  to  parents  who  permit  their 
children  to  attend  the  Public  Schools.  On  page  ninety-seven,  you 
have  another  important  opinion  of  the  same  spirit,  wherein  it  is 
said,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  Janssens,  Bishop  of  Natchez : 

That  since  the  Public  Schools  were  bound  by  Contltutlon  to 
leave  out  religion,  and  to  teach  science  without  inculcating  Go'd, 
His  doctrine,  His  commands,  hence,  the  Public  School  system 
should  be  looked  upon  by  every  Christian  not  only  as  insufficient, 
but  as  positively  dangerous,  promoting,  of  its  very  nature,  Indif- 
ferentism,  If  not  infidelity. 

When  you  remember  the  authority  that  the  Romish  bishops 
have  in  their  Church,  and  that  their  word  Is  law  for  the  priests 
who  are  under  them;  when  you  remember  that  these  priests, 
carrying  out  the  law  of  their  bishops,  make  those  bishops  a  most 
dangerous  power  against  what  they  oppose;  when  you  recall  all 
these  declarations,  which  are  unqualifiedly  against  our  system  of 
public  education;  then  you  can  understand  that  their  whole  in- 
fluence, as  well  as  their  fiercest  denunciations,  hurled  at  this 
method  of  imparting  public  instruction,  are  Intended  to  destroy 
the  system  they  denounce. 

But  now,  suppose  we  turn  to  the  public  press  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  hear  what  that,  as  further  representing  the 
influence  of  the  prelates,  is  ready  to  say;  for  the  public  press  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  the  organ  of  the  dignitaries,  rather 


2S6  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

than  an  organ  of  the  people.  -The  Boston  Glohe,  a  rq)resentative 
of  Rome,  wrote,  in  1885  : 

.We  want  to  make  our  children  good  Catholics,  which  is  the 
same  as  making  them  good  Christians.  We  must  have  positive 
Christian  schools,  with  entire  liberty  of  religious  instruction, 
even  at  the  expense  of  building  and  supporting  them,  and  though 
we  should  half  empty  the  grand  school  buildings  in  Boston,  and 
give  them  to  be  sold  at  public  auction  to  the  highest  bidder. 

We  have  still  a  further  declaration  from  Roman  Catholic 
writers,  this  time  from  the  Boston  Advertiser,  wherein  a  Catholic 
priest  says : 

Catholics  would  not  be  satisfied  with  the  PubHc  Schools,  even 
if  the  Protestant  Bible  and  every  vestige  of  religious  instruction 
were  banished  from  them.  They  will  not  be  taxed  either  for 
educating  the  children  of  Protestants  or  for  having  their  own 
children  educated  in  schools  under  Protestant  control. 

The  New  York  Tablet  says : 

The  education  itself  is  the  business  of  the  spiritual  society 
alone,  and  not  the  secular  society.  The  instruction  of  children  and 
youth  is  included  in  the  sacrament  of  Order,  and  the  State  usurps 
the  functions  of  the  spiritual  society  when  it  turns  educator.  The 
secular  is  for  the  spiritual,  and  is  subordinated  to  religion,  which 
alone  has  authority  to  instruct  man  in  his  secular  duties.  The 
organization  of  the  schools,  their  entire  internal  arrangement  and 
management,  the  choice  and  regulation  of  studies,  the  selection, 
appointment  and  dismissal  of  teachers,  belongs  exclusively  to  the 
spiritual  authority. 

To  sum  up  the  whole  matter,  the  Romish  Church  calls  our 
American  educational  system  "pits  of  destruction,"  "a  devouring 


'NINETEEXTH  CEXTURY  DEEDS  OF  RO.\LL\'ISM.  287 

fire,"  ''godless  schools,"  "offsprings  of  the  devil,"  etc.  Can  any 
man,  or  corporation  of  men  who  teach  disloyalty  to  one  of  our 
cherished  American  institutions  be  a  loyal  subject  of  the  govern- 
ment?   Most  certainly  not. 

Monsignor  Capel,  a  very  distinguished  Roman  CathoHc, 
made  a  tour  of  this  country,  and  among  his  utterances  were  the 
following,  in  answer  to  a  question : 

Whom  must  we  obey  if  the  State  should  command  the  citizen 
to  do  one  thing  and  the  Church  command  him  to  do  another? 
Then  he  must  obey  the  Church,  of  course.  I  have  not  yet  spoken 
of  this  definitely,  but  I  shall  go  to  Washington  when  Congress  is 
in  session,  and  make  a  formal  declaration  which  shall  carry  some 
authority  with  it.  The  result  is,  there  is  going  to  be  a  fight — there 
are  a  good  many  Catholics  in  this  country;  your  Public  School 
system  is  inadequate  for  them,  and  they  are  going  to  leave  it. 
Suppose  that  the  Church  should  send  out  a  command  to  State 
schools  in  every  parish  to  establish  and  support  parochial  schools, 
and  send  all  Catholics  to  them.  It  can  be  done  by  the  utterance  of 
a  word,  sharp  as  the  click  of  a  trigger. 

Still,  with  such  utterances  as  the  above,  the  American  people 
continue  to  slumber  as  if  perfectly  secure.  They  pursue  the  phan- 
toms of  pleasure,  self-gratification,  wealth  and  destruction,  as  if 
they  had  no  part  or  lot  in  this  matter. 

Said  Priest  D.  S.  Phelan  (pardon  us  for  blotting  these  pages 
with  his  name)  :  "We  will  take  this  country  and  build  our  insti- 
tutions upon  the  grave  of  Protestantism."  In  order  to  accomplish 
this,  the  Bible,  through  the  manipulations  of  the  Jesuits,  has  been 
legislated  out  of  our  Public  Schools,  and  in  many  instances  the 
Roman  Catholic  prayer  book  and  catechism  have  taken  its  place. 


288  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM. 


In  many  of  the  States.  Catholic  boards  o£  education  have  placed 
Catholic  teachers  in  our  Public  Schools  (these  godless  schools," 
these  "pits  of  destruction,"  these  "abominations")  and  these 
Catholic  teachers  teach  Romanism  to  Protestant  children  at 
public  expense.  The  Catholic  Church  demands  that  Romanism 
shall  be  taught,  and  while  Protestants  have  been  heedless  of  the 
demand,  they,  ever  watchful  for  opportunities  to  take  advantage 
of  our  stupidity,  have  not  only  placed  their  own  books  in  the 
hands  of  American  children,  but  have  placed  their  own  teachers 
over  them.  We  have  it  from  good  authority  that  two  out  of  every 
three  of  the  public  free  school  teachers  in  San  Francisco,  Cal, 
are  Romanists;  two  out  of  three  in  Chicago,  111.,  nine  out  of  ten 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  ten  out  of  twelve  in  Providence,  R.  I. 
In  June  of  this  year  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  twenty-one  Protestant 
teachers  were  dismissed  from  the  public  free  schools,  and  twenty- 
one  Roman  Catholic  teachers  put  in  their  places.  Why  is  this, 
when  Rome  is  so  bitter  in  its  denunciations  of  the  Public  School  ? 
The  Roman  Bishop  of  the  Netherlands  answers  the  question  in 
"Judges  of  Faith,'  page  seventy-two,  where  he  says: 

It  is  further  necessary  that  the  schools  teach  the  children, 
and  make  them  practice  the  Catholic  religion. 

They  call  the  Bible  a  sectarian  book,  and  object  to  it;  still 
they  teach,  are  bound  to  teach,  the  most  unqualified  sectarianism. 
Do  you  know  wliat  your  children  are  taught  in  these  schools 
where  you  have  allowed  a  Catholic  teacher  to  be  placed  over 
them?  Fortunately,  we  have  upon  our  table  a  book  secured 
from  a  Baptist  child  who  had  been  placed  in  one  of  these  schools 
under  the  instruction  of  a  Catholic  teacher.  We  make  only  two 
extracts.    The  first  is  from  page  one,  fourth  paragraph : 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  289 

I  comers  to  Almighty  God,  to  blessed  Mary,  ever  Virgin,  to 
blessed  Michael,  the  Archangel,  to  blessed  John  the  Baptist,  to  the 
holy  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  to  all  the  saints  that  I  have 
sinned,  etc.  Therefore,  I  beseech  blessed  Mary,  ever  Virgin, 
blessed  Michael,  the  Archangel,  blessed  John  the  Baptist,  and  the 
holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  all  the  saints  to  pray  to  the 
Lord  God  for  me. 

We  would  like  to  ask  Protestants  who  may  do  us  the  kind- 
ness to  read  these  pages  if  the  above  Is  what  you  want  your  chil- 
dren taught?  But  we  turn  to  page  thirty-two,  and  we  have  this 
doctrine,  and  remember  that  this  book  was  secured  from  a  Pro- 
testant child  whose  teacher  was  a  Romanist. 

Question.  How  do  you  (a  Baptist  child)  know  that  the 
priest  has  the  power  of  absolving  from  sins  committed  after  bap- 
tism ? 

Answer.  I  know  that  the  priest  has  the  power  of  absolv- 
ing from  sins  committed  after  baptism,  because  Jesus  Christ 
granted  that  power  to  the  priests  of  His  church. 

Q.  How  do  the  priests  of  the  church  exercise  the  power  of 
forgiving  sins  ? 

A.  The  priests  of  the  church  exercise  the  power  of  forgiv- 
ing sins  by  hearing  the  confession  of  sins  and  granting  pardon 
for  them  as  ministers  of  God  and  in  His  name. 

Protestants,  how  do  you  like  to  substitute  for  the  Bible, 
God's  blessed  book,  the  one  from  which  we  have  just  quoted. 
Your  child  must  not  read,  must  not  hear  read,  "blessed  are  the 
merciful,  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy,"  or  "blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God."  No,  the  priests  say  that  is 
sectarian;  but  they  must  learn  that  the  "priest  has  power  to  for-i 

(19) 


290  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

give  sins"  and  they  must  "practice  the  Catholic  religion."  But 
that  you  may  know  what  lessons  are  instilled  into  the  minds  of 
the  children  we  quote  from  Familiar  Explanations  of  Christian 
Doctrine,  published  by  Krenzer  Brothers,  Baltimore,  Md.  We 
quote  Lesson  XII.,  which  is  headed,  "No  Salvation  Outside  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church." 

Question.  Since  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  alone  is  the 
true  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  can  any  one  who  dies  outside  of  the 
church  be  saved? 

Answer.     He  can  not. 

Q.  Did  Jesus  Christ  himself  assure  us  most  solemnly,  in 
plain  words,  that  no  one  can  be  saved  out  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  ? 

A.  He  did;  when  He  said  to  His  apostles,  "Go  teach  all 
nations,"  etc. 

Q.  What  do  the  fathers  of  the  church  say  about  the  salva- 
tion of  those  who  die  out  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  ? 

A.  They  all,  without  any  exception,  pronounce  them  in- 
fallibly lost  forever. 

Q.  Are  there  any  other  reasons  to  show  that  heretics  or 
Prdtestants,  who  die  out  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  are 
not  saved? 

A.  There  are  several.  They  can  not  be  saved  because  ( i ) 
They  have  no  divine  faith;  (2)  They  make  a  liar  of  Jesus  Christ, 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the  apostles;  (3)  They  have  no  faith 
in  Christ;  (4)  They  fell  away  from  the  true  church  of  Christ; 
(5)  They  are  too  proud  to  submit  to  the  Pope,  the  Vicar  of 
Christ;  (6)  They  can  not  perform  any  good  works  whereby  they: 
can  obtain  Heaven;  (7)  They  do  not  receive  the  body  and  blood 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  291 

of  Christ;  (8)  They  die  in  their  sins;  (9)  They  ridicule  and 
blaspheme  the  mother  of  God  and  His  saints;  (10)  They  slander 
the  spouse  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Catholic  Church. 

Q.  Now  do  you  think  that  God,  the  Father,  will  admit  into 
His  heaven  those  who  make  liars  of  His  son,  Jesus  Christ,  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  the  Apostles  ? 

A.  No,  He  will  let  them  have  their  portion  with  Lucifer 
in  hell,  who  first  rebelled  against  Christ,  and  who  is  the  father  of 
Liars. 

Q.     Have  Protestants  any  faith  in  Christ  ? 

A.     They  never  had. 

Q.     Why  not? 

A.  Because  there  never  lived  such  a  Christ  as  they  imagine 
and  believe  in. 

Q.     In  what  kind  of  a  Christ  do  they  believe  ? 

A.     In  such  a  one  of  whom  they  can  make  a  liar,  etc. 

Q.     Will  such  a  faith  in  such  a  Christ  save  Protestants  ? 

A.     No  sensible  man  will  assert  such  an  absurdity. 

Q.     What  will  Christ  say  to  them  on  the  day  of  judgment? 

A.     I  know  you  not,  because  you  never  knew  me. 

Q.  Are  Protestants  willing  to  confess  their  sins  to  a  Catho- 
lic bishop,  or  priest,  who  alone  has  power  from  Christ  to  forgive 
sins? 

A.  No,  for  they  generally  have  an  utter  aversion  to  con- 
fession, and  therefore  their  sins  will  not  be  forgiven  throughout 
all  eternity. 

Q.     What  follows  from  this  ? 

A.     They  will  die  in  their  sins  and  are  HamneS. 


292  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

trhese  are  the  lessons  instilled  by  Romish  teachers  into  the 
minds  of  American  youth.  One  of  the  first  lessons  learned  by 
the  child  is  that  its  parents  are  heretics  having  no  true  Christ  in 
whom  to  believe,  and  consequently  are  not  entitled  to  its  respect. 
They  are  taught  that  Protestants  will  not  submit  themselves  to 
the  "true  church,"  and  consequently  they  will  be  damned,  and 
that  it  is  wrong  to  give  aid  or  comfort  to  them.  An  eminent 
divine  who  was,  when  a  child,  sent  to  a  Catholic  teacher,  said: 
"The  first  lesson  learned  as  a  Catholic  child  was  to  hate  Protest- 
ants.' So  are  the  children  of  all  Protestant  parents  who  send 
their  children  to  Catholic  teachers  taught  the  same  thing. 

We  want  to  repeat  the  statement  then,  that  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  does  not  want  to  educate  anybody,  nor  will  it  do  so 
where  it  is  not  under  the  pressure  of  Protestant  influence.  The 
American  people  want  the  figures,  however,  before  they  will  be 
convinced.  So  as  further  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  proposi- 
tion, we  quote  from  the  report  of  he  Minister  of  Education  in 
Italy  for  the  year  1864.    He  says : 

"Of  every  thousand  males  in  the  old  provinces  and  Lom- 
bardy,  539  were  able  to  read,  and  461  did  not  know  their  letters. 
Of  every  thousand  females,  426  could  read,  574  could  not.  In 
Naples  and  Sicily,  of  every  thousand  males,  165  were  able  to 
read,  835  could  not.  Of  every  thousand  females,  62  could  read, 
938  could  not.  That  is,  in  every  hundred  of  the  population  in 
these  Neapolitan  provinces,  about  ten  only  were  able  to  read. 
The  ratio  of  pupils  to  inhabitants  was,  in  the  old  provinces  and 
Lombardy,  one  pupil  for  every  thirteen  inhabitants;  in  the  cen- 
tral region,  one  for  forty-two;  in  Naples  and  Sicily,  one  for 
seventy-three,  while  the  number  of  pupils  in  Connecticut  was 


VINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  293 


one  to  five.  Compare  'that  with  one  to  seventy-three,  and 
one  to  forty-two,  as  you  have  it  in  regions  where  Rome 
has-  sway.  Out  of  twenty-one  million  people  in  1864  in 
Italy,  three  and  one-half  millions  could  read  and  write,  and 
the  rest  could  not.  We  have  the  statement  that  in  Spain  seventy- 
five,  and  some  authorities  say  eighty,  per  cent  can  not  read  nor 
write.  In  regard  to  Switzerland,  in  1842  a  Romish  priest, 
Franscini,  of  the  canton  of  Ticino,  showed  how  much  superior 
in  every  respect  the  Protestant  cantons  were,  giving  among  the 
reasons  the  fact  that  Roman  Catholic  education  prevails  in  Rom- 
ish cantons,  and  Protestant  education  prevails  elsewhere.  We 
have  also  a  picture  of  Ireland,  showing  us  what  the  condition 
of  Ireland  was  in  the  territory  where  the  Romish  church  was 
dominant,  and  what  it  was  outside  of  the  Romish  countries,  re- 
vealing the  same  lessons  as  Switzerland.  In  the  Protestant 
countries  of  Great  Britain  and  Prussia,  in  1869,  where  twenty 
can  read  and  write,  there  are  but  thirteen  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
countries  of  France  and  Austria.  In  European  countries  one  to 
every  ten  are  in  schools  in  Protestant  countries,  and  but  one  in 
124  in  the  Roman  Catholic  countries.  In  six  leading  Protestant 
countries  in  Europe,  one  newspaper  or  magazine  is  published 
to  every  315  inhabitants,  while  in  six  Roman  Catholic  countries 
there  is  but  one  newspaper  to  2,715  people.  It  was  estimated 
in  1850  that  at  least  seven-eighths  of  the  twenty  millions  of  peo- 
ple in  Spanish  America  (Mexico,  Cuba,  Central  America,  and 
the  north  and  west  parts  of  South  America,  etc.,)  were  unable 
to  read.  See  Barnum's  "Romanism  as  It  Is,"  pp.  14-17.  That 
is  what  the  Romish  system  has  done  on  a  large  scale.  In  Mexico, 
90  per  cent  of  the  people  can  not  read  and  write." 


294  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Now  you  see  what  Roman  Catholic  education  has  done 
and  will  do,  but  the  half  has  not  yet  been  told.  Will  you  encour- 
age such  a  system  by  giving  it  your  support?  And  will  you  do 
your  child  so  great  an  injustice  as  to  place  it  under  the  tutor- 
age of  a  corporation  whose  instructive  policy  is  to  keep  the 
masses  in  stupid  ignorance,  and  to  pervert  their  religion  into  the 
channels  of  baptized  paganism?  If  Rome  is  anxious  to  educate 
the  young,  why  is  it  that  in  Catholic  Italy  out  of  twenty-one  mil- 
lion, seventeen  million,  five  hundred  thousand  can  neither  rea<i 
nor  write?  If  Rome  wants  to  educate  the  young,  why  is  it  that  in 
the  Neapolitan  provinces  for  every  ten  who  can  read,  ninety  can 
not?  It  does  seem  to  us  that  these  reports  should  forever  settle 
the  question  of  placing  the  American  youth  in  Roman  Catholic 
schools,  or  placing  Roman  Catholic  teachers  in  our  public  schools. 


Brig.  Gen.  Pitzhugh  Lee,  wlio  dwelt  among  the  Spanish  officials  of  Cuba 

long  before  the  Maine  was  blown  up,  and  who  perhaps  knows 

more  about  the  treacherousness  of  Catholicism  in 

Cuba  than  any  other  American. 


Chapter  XVIII. 


Why  Protestants  Should  Hold  the  Offices  in  the 
Gift  of  the  American  People. 


If  we  emigrate  to  Rome  with  the  expectation  of  making 
Rome  our  future  home,  we  should  become  Romans,  as  regards 
her  laws,  and  do  as  Rome  does.  If  we  go  to  Mexico  and  expect  to 
make  that  country  give  us  support,  we  should  become  a  Mexican, 
so  far  as  adhering  to  the  laws  of  that  government  are  concerned. 
If  we  do  not  believe  in  the  government  of  Rome  we  should  stay 
away;  if  we  do  not  believe  in  the  Mexican  form  of  government, 
and  do  not  expect  to  obey  her  laws  and  become  loyal  citizens  of 
Mexico,  we  have  no  right  to  identify  ourselves  with  their  form  of 
government.  If  the  above  statement  is  true,  then  why  should  this 
country  be  made  the  dumping  ground  for  every  nation  on  earth, 
whether  they  believe  in  our  form  of  government  or  not  ?  There  is 
no  office  within  the  gift  of  the  American  people  but  what  a  for- 
eign born  may  aspire  to  and  hold,  with  the  exception  of  President 
of  the  United  States.  A  man  born  and  raised  in  Ireland,  France, 
Germany,  Belgium,  or  any  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 


298  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OR  ROMANISM, 

with  the  excq)tion  of  the  Chinese  empire,  can  come  over  to  this 
country  as  ignorant  of  the  principles  of  this  government  as  an 
unborn  babe,  and  become  naturaHzed,  and  the  next  day  permitted 
to  cast  his  ballot  with  the  young  man  who  is  personally  ac- 
quainted with  the  American  form  of  government  in  all  of  its  ram- 
ifications, and  who  knows  more  about  the  fundamental  principles 
of  same  at  ten  years  of  age  than  the  average  foreign  born  man 
will  ever  know,  though  he  live  in  this  country  for  fifty  years.  Our 
own  boys  who  are  born  in  this  country,  and  who  love  every  fold 
of  the  old  flag,  and  who  never  expect  to  make  any  other  nation 
their  homes,  must  remain  without  a  franchise  for  twenty-one 
years,  while  the  Italian,  and  Polander,  that  can  not  read  a  single 
word  in  English,  and  who  has  no  more  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
this  country,  and  who  never  has,  nor  never  will  make  a  conpanion- 
able  citizen,  is  permitted  to  cast  his  ballot,  which  is  impossible  for 
him  to  do  intelligently,  as  he  can  not  mingle  with  intelligent 
American  citizens,  as  he  can  not  understand  their  language,  and 
his  kinsmen  are  as  densely  ignorant  as  he  is,  but  the  laws  of  this 
country  permit  them  these  privileges,  which  are  unjust  as  in- 
justice itself. 

Who  is  to  blame  for  this  state  of  affairs  ?  Most  assuredly  it 
Is  the  Protestants  themselves,  for  they  are  in  the  majority  in  the 
halls  of  Congress,  but  they  are  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  cunning 
chaunts  of  Catholicism,  for  these  laws  are  spread  upon  our  statute 
books  that  they  may  help  the  Vatican  and  her  army  of  traducers 
of  true  Americanship  to  fasten  their  poisonous  tallons  more 
firmly  in  the  vitals  of  this  country. 

.We  do  not  intend  to  infer  by  the  above  that  our  Protestant 
representatives  maliciously  and  wilfully  make  these  laws  in  order 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  299 

to  aid  in  placing  this  country  at  the  mercy  of  Catholicism,  but  we 
do  intend  to  infer  that  they  are  not  awake  to  the  cunning  skul- 
dugery  of  the  Pope,  and  fail  to  analyze  a  bill  before  voting  for  its 
passage.  One  trick  of  Catholicism  is  to  wait  until  near  the  close 
of  a  session,  and  then  bring  to  bear  every  conceivable  force  to 
have  a  pet  measure  passed  before  any  one  has  time  to  thoroughly 
investigate  its  anterior  meaning.  Can  you,  or  have  you  ever  seen 
any  one  that  could  give  you  any  good  substantial  reason  why  a 
Catholic,  and  especially  a  foreign  born  Catholic  should  hold  an 
office  within  the  gift  of  the  American  people?  You  never  have, 
nor  you  never  will.  It  is  true  they  are  American  citizens  in  name, 
but  are  they  in  principle?  If  the  officials  and  those  high  in  power 
have  views  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  America,  can  we  expect 
more  of  those  who  are  led  by  these  rulers  ?  It  is  unreasonable  to 
expect  such,  is  it  not? 

Well,  if  this  argument  is  correct,  permit  us  to  demonstrate 
what  we  may  expect  from  Catholic  officials.  We  quote  a  para- 
graph from  the  oath  that  all  priests  must  take  before  he  is  per- 
mitted to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  Church  of  Rome : 

"I  do  furthermore  promise  and  declare  that  I  will,  when 
opportunity  presents,  make  and  wage  relentless  war,  secretly  or 
openly,  against  all  heretics,  Protestants  and  liberals,  as  I  am 
directed  to  do,  and  to  extirpate  them  from  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth,"  etc.,  etc. 

Now,,  Protestant  American,  I  beg  to  ask  how  any  man  who 
binds  himself  to  a  foreign  power,  as  a  priest  binds  himself  to  the 
Pope,  who  is  an  Italian  born  citizen,  can  make  a  true  American 
citizen  ?  If  the  priest  must  bind  himself  in  this  way,  can  we  expect 
more  of  his  subjects,  who  are  directly  under  his  influence? 


300  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


The  proposition  is  just  as  plain  as  intelligent  deductions  can 
k.iake  it.  The  Catholic  religion  does  not  only  bind  its  members  to 
mildly  comply  with  all  the  commands  of  the  Pope,  but,  further, 
binds  them  to  spare  none  that  may  stand  in  their  way  of  carrying 
out  the  Papal  instructions.  What  does  this  oath  mean  ?  Let  us, 
in  a  cool  and  deliberate  manner  analyze  it.  Can  you  find  a  sylla- 
ble in  this  most  damnable  oath  but  what  pertains  to  Protestants 
and  their  every  interest?  Not  one  word.  So  the  unconcerned 
manner  in  which  Protestants  treat  the  ever  grasping,  unfeeling 
advances  of  the  priestcraft  is  beyond  our  comprehension. 

Suppose  there  was  a  secret  order  in  the  land  which  adminis- 
tered such  a  blood-curdling  oath  to  its  members,  which  is  directly 
opposed  and  directed  against  this  government,  each  member 
would  be  arrested  and  tried  for  treason.  These  facts  are  known  to 
Protestants,  and  then  they  go  blindly  ahead  and  elect  to  office, 
followers  of  Catholicism,  whom  they  know  will,  at  the  bidding  of 
the  officials  of  that  Church,  do  everything  in  their  power  to  para- 
lyze Protestant  interests.  This  they  are  compelled  to  do,  as  they 
are  bound  by  an  oath  that  combines  all  the  savagery  of  heathenish 
superstition,  with  an  inbred  hatred  for  every  thing  Protestant. 
If  you  desire  to  go  ahead  and  have  your  children  taught  by 
Catholics,  and  your  offices  filled  with  Catholics,  it  is  to  your  ever- 
lasting undoing.  There  is  no  mockery  but  what  is  resorted  to  in 
the  Catholic  Church.  They  instigate  "curses"  against  every  thing 
Protestant,  and  call  down  the  wrath  of  God  in  the  most  blasphe- 
mous manner.  Christ  said,  "Bless  those  that  curse  you;  bless  and 
curse  not."  But  the  Pope  of  Rome  and  his  Church  regard  not  the 
teachings  of  Christ. 

The  following  is  the  Popish  curse  pronounced  against  Victor 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  SOI 

Immanuel,  Rev.  Wm.  Hogan,  Dr.  McGlenn,  and  others,  who  had 
offended  the  Pope.  When  you  read  this  abominable  curse,  that 
would  put  to  shame  the  inhabitants  of  a  murderous  clan  of  vil- 
lainous cut  throats,  it  may  be  that  you  will  in  a  degree  open  your 
eyes  to  what  Catholicism  is. 

By  the  authority  of  the  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  and  the  undefiled  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  and  pa- 
troness of  our  Savior,  and  of  all  celestial  Virtues,  Angels,  Arch- 
angels, Thrones,  Dominions,  Powers,  Cherubim  and  Seraphim, 
and  of  all  the  Holy  Patriarchs,  Prophets,  and  of  all  the  Apostles 
and  Evangelists,  of  the  Holy  Innocents,  who  in  the  sight  of  the 
Holy  Lamb  are  found  worthy  to  sing  the  new  song  of  the  Holy 
Martyrs  and  Holy  Confessors,  and  of  all  the  Holy  Virgins,  and 
of  all  the  Saints,  together  with  the  Holy  Elect  of  God. — May  he, 

,  be  damned.    We  excommunicate  and  anathematize 

him  from  the  threshold  of  the  Holy  Church  of  God  Almighty; 
we  sequester  him,  that  he  may  be  tormented,  despised  and  be 
delivered  over  with  Dathan  and  Abriam,  and  with  those  who  say 
unto  the  Lord,  "Depart  from  us,  we  desire  none  of  thy  ways;'* 
as  a  fire  is  quenched  with  water,  so  let  the  light  of  him  be  put  out 
for  evermore,  unless  it  shall  repent  him  and  make  satisfaction. 
Amen. 

May  the  Father,  who  creates  man,  curse  him! — May  the 
Son,  who  suffered  for  us,  curse  him ! — May  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 
is  poured  out  in  baptism,  curse  him ! — May  the  Holy  Cross,  which 
Christ,  for  our  salvation,  triumphing  over  his  enemies,  ascended, 
curse  him ! 

May  the  Holy  Mary,  ever  Virgin  and  mother  of  God,  curse 
him ! — May  St.  Michael,  the  Advocate  of  Holy  Souls,  curse  him ! 


302  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

—May  all  the  Angels,  Principalities  and  Powers,  and  all  Heav- 
enly Armies,  curse  him! — May  the  glorious  band  of  the  Patri- 
archs and  Prophets  curse  him ! 

May  St.  John  the  Precursor,  and  St.  John  the  Baptist,  an3 
St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  and  St.  Andrew,  and  all  other  of 
Christ's  Apostles  together  curse  him!  and  may  the  rest  of  the 
Disciples  and  Evangelists,  who,  by  their  preaching,  converted 
the  Universe,  and  the  holy  and  wonderful  company  of  Martyrs 
and  Confessors,  who,  by  their  works,  are  found  pleasing  to  Gk)d 
Almighty! — May  the  holy  choir  of  the  Holy  Virgins,  who,  for 
the  honor  of  Christ,  have  despised  the  things  of  the  world,  damn 
him! — May  all  Saints,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the 
everlasting  ages,  who  are  found  to  be  beloved  of  God,  damn  him ! 

May  he  be  damned,  wherever  he  be,  whether  in  the  house  or 
in  the  alley,  in  the  woods  or  in  the  water,  or  in  the  church !  May 
he  be  cursed  in  living  and  dying ! 

May  he  be  cursed  in  eating  and  drinking,  in  being  hungry, 
in  being  thirsty,  in  fasting  and  sleeping,  in  slumbering  and  in 
sitting,  in  living,  in  working,  in  resting,  and  *  *  *  and  in  blood- 
letting ! 

May  he  be  cursed  in  all  the  faculties  of  his  body ! 

May  he  be  cursed  inwardly  and  outwardly!  May  he  be 
cursed  in  his  hair;  cursed  be  he  in  his  brains  and  in  his  vortex, 
in  his  temples,  in  his  eyebrows,  in  his  cheeks,  in  his  jaw-bones,  in 
his  nostrils,  in  his  teeth,  and  grinders,  in  his  lips,  in  his  shoulders, 
in  his  arms,  in  his  fingers ! 

May  he  be  damned  in  his  mouth,  in  his  breast,  in  his  heart, 
and  purtenances,  down  to  the  very  stomach ! 

May  he  be  cursed  in  his  *  *  *  and  his  *  *  *  in  his  thighs, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  303 

in  his  *  *  *  and  his  *  *  *  and  in  his  knees,  in  his  legs,  in  his 
feet,  and  his  toe  nails ! 

May  he  be  cursed  in  all  his  joints  and  articulation  of  the 
members;  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his  feet  may; 
there  be  no  soundness ! 

May  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  with  all  the  glory  of  His 
Majesty,  curse  him !  and  may  Heaven,  with  all  the  powers  that 
move  therein,  rise  up  against  him,  and  curse  and  damn  him,  un- 
less he  repent  and  make  satisfaction.  Amen !  So  be  it.  Be  it  so, 
Amen ! 

Naw,  in  this  chapter,  we  only  have  to  say  that  we  have  no 
apology  to  offer  to  any  man  or  woman  who  may  chance  to  read 
this  book.  We  have,  in  our  quotations,  been  accurate,  and  given 
them  just  as  they  are  taught  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  In  quot- 
ing from  Peter  Dens,  Archbishop  Kendrick,  Alphonsus  Liguori, 
and  others,  we  have  been  compelled  to  use  great  caution,  lest  we 
go  beyond  what  would  seem  to  be  the  limits  of  propriety;  and 
w^hile  we  have  quoted  much  that  we  would  rather  have  left  out, 
still  it  seemed  to  be  necessary  in  order  to  place  these  questions 
at  all  in  their  true  light  before  the  reader. 

Romanism  is  a  power  for  evil  unequalled  in  the  countries 
where  it  predominates.  As  one  closing  sample,  we  call  your  at- 
tention to  this  fact :  In  the  City  of  Rome,  the  home  of  the  Pope, 
there  are  39  cardinals,  35  archbishops,  1,469  priests,  2,832  monks 
and  friars,  2,000  nuns,  and  1,000  ecclesiastical  students,  making 
in  all  7,576  learned,  pious  Catholic  teachers  of  religion.  For 
every  4,375  children  born,  3,160  are  illegitimate.  Sixty-four  per 
cent  of  the  people  born  are  illiterate,  and  one  murder  committed 
for  every  750  of  the  inhabitants. 


^4         mmTEBNTH  CBNfURy  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM: 

These  being  facts,  we  appeal  to  the  ministers  and  liberty- 
loving  Christian  people  of  this  country  to  stop  and  think  before 
the  hoof  of  Rome  shall  be  placed  upon  the  neck  of  American 
liberty. 


-d 


o 

a 

o 


Chapter  XIX. 

American  Priests  and  Tlieir  Influences. 


From  a  Protestant  standpoint,  and  most  assuredly  this  is  the 
correct  standpoint,  as  America  is  and  ought  to  be  Protestant,  the 
CathoHc  priest  is  an  eyesore  to  the  body  politic  of  the  American 
form  of  Government,  as  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Ameri- 
can government  is  for  the  masses,  and  never  was  intended  to  be 
presided  over  by  a  king  or  potentate,  and  the  Catholic  form  of 
government  is  many  thousand  times  more  absolute  and  despotic 
than  any  kingdom  or  country  ruled  by  an  absolute  ruler.  Rulers 
who  have  absolute  sway  over  the  destinies  of  a  country  are  satis- 
fied at  ruling  the  political  ambitions  of  their  subjects,  and  seeing 
that  their  aspirations  do  not  grow  beyond  his  control.  Not  so  with 
Catholfcism,  for  her  ever  tyrannical  and  domineering  spirit  does 
not  halt  at  the  confines  of  temporal  power,  but  Rome  proposes  to 
follow  to  the  confines  of  the  grave,  and  unless  she  be  granted  ab- 
solute control  of  both  temporal  and  spiritual  power,  she  is  ever 
ready  to  damn  those  who  put  forth  an  independent  effort  to  strike 
out  in  a  free  and  untrammelled  effort  to  extricate  themselves 
from  the  degrading  meshes  of  Popish  power. 


308  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  RO^E■iNISM. 

The  foregoing  is  an  established  fact  with  all  Protestant 
forms  of  government,  and  if  this  be  the  case,  it  is  an  easy  matter 
then  to  see  why  priests  are  detrimental  to  the  American  govern- 
ment, for  they  acknowledge  no  power  unless  that  power  comes 
from  and  through  the  Pope,  who  is  an  Italian  by  birth,  and  a 
despot  by  education.  His  interests  are  foreign  to  that  of  any 
American,  and  since  this  is  the  case,  his  decisions  must  be  diag- 
onal to  the  interests  of  this  government,  and  if  this  be  the  case, 
then  the  authority  that  the  priest  receives  from  his  hand  is  also 
in  favor  and  in  the  interest  of  himself  and  the  head  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  so  we  can  not  arrive  at  a  rational  conclusion  without 
finding  that  the  priesthood  of  America  is  a  chain  of  pontifical  links 
that  bind  every  interest  of  America  and  her  people  against  her 
interests. 

Whenever  you  strike  down  public  schools,  you  tear  the  fabric 
of  free  government  into  shreds,  and  the  Papal  power  never  misses 
an  opportunity  to  brand  the  public  school  system  as  a  "nursery 
of  vice,"  or  "cesspools  of  iniquity."  Again,  if  the  priestcraft  of 
America  had  have  shown  signs  of  improvement  during  the  past 
century,  then  this  chapter  would  never  have  been  written,  but 
there  has  been  no  improvement.  Therefore,  the  same  reason 
that  existed  a  hundred  years  ago  for  denouncing  Catholicism, 
and  declaring  that  the  priestcraft  was  detrimental  to  America 
still  exists,  and  so  long  as  it  does,  God  help  Americans  to  let 
their  voice  be  heard  around  the  civilized  world  fighting  the  bat- 
tles of  the  "Land  of  the  free,  and  the  home  of  the  brave." 

It  was  the  dream  of  many  in  the  past,  that  an  American 
Catholic  Church  would  be  the  result  of  Romanists  coming  In  con- 
tact with  the  life  of  the  New  World.  Our  schools  and  colleges,  it 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OP  RO.UANISM.  309 

was  thought,  would  exert  a  HberaHzIng  influence  upon  the  Roman 
CathoHcs  who  should  obtain  in  them  an  education.  Rome  saw  it 
before  Americans  realized  the  entire  truth,  and  headed  against  it 
with  desperate  energy.  Our  public  schools  were  fought.  The 
education  of  Roman  Catholic  youth  in  our  American  institutions 
oi  learning  became  an  exception  rather  than  a  rule.  The  parochial 
school  was  established  for  the  younger  portion,  and  the  American 
College  in  Rome  was  provided  for  those  who  desired  advanced 
training.  Every  thing  in  the  power  of  Rome  to  separate  her 
youth  from  ours  has  been  attempted,  and  with  signal  success. 
Rome  holds  her  own  despite  the  life  of  the  Republic.  The  Roman 
Catholic  schools  and  colleges  are  of  inferior  grade;  which  is 
much.  They  are  anti- American  from  center  to  circumference, 
from  bottom  to  top ;  which  is  more.  They  do  not  want  their  peo- 
ple to  be  Americanized.  Rome  is  a  government  within  a  govern- 
ment, a  despotism  seeking  to  obtain  despotic  power  in  the  very 
heart  of  a  republic.  A  man  educated  for  the  priesthood  is  de- 
tached from  family,  separated  from  home  ties  and  associations, 
and  is  taught  to  believe  that  growth  in  grace  comes  from  tor- 
turing the  body,  and  separating  himself  from  those  associations 
which  brighten  the  path  and  cheer  the  hearts  of  the  young  men 
and  women  given  to  Christ  and  a  religious  life.  From  morning 
till  night  they  speak  of  the  necessity  of  mortifying  the  flesh,  of 
taming  the  body,  of  destroying  the  "old  Adam,"  the  "old  man." 

Such  is  the  foundation  of  all  the  Catholic  virtues;  such  is 
their  doctrine,  received  from  and  taught  by  Manes,  the  most 
romantic  of  all  the  impostors,  which  degrades  man  below  beasts, 
or  elevates  him,  sometimes,  above  humanity.  It  is  because  Ro- 
manists are  carried  into  the  darkness  of  papal  niglit,  that  they 


310  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  Of  ROMANISM. 


remain  in  darkness.  Education  makes  them  what  they  are, 
and  what  they  seem.  Fastings,  bad  food,  mortifications,  long 
meditations  in  the  morning,  at  noon,  and  evening;  confession  of 
sins  every  week,  and  much  oftener ;  habits  of  a  slavish  submission 
to  the  most  ludicrous  practices;  the  study  of  a  ridiculous  theol- 
ogy; the  idea  which  those  ignorant  young  men  recceive  of  God, 
of  His  severity,  or  rather  cruelty,  of  the  duties  of  a  priest,  of  His 
eternal  chastity,  the  hardness  of  discipline;  all  that,  and  many 
other  practices  which  no  one  desires  to  recall,  is  so  well  mixed, 
directed,  managed,  that  the  pupils  become  as  a  rule  stupid, 
fanatic,  slavish,  and  quite  like  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter. 
Not  one  book  is  allowed  to  be  read,  but  theology  and  the  works 
of  a  blind  piety.  Every  discussion  against  popery  is  so  severely 
forbidden,  that  he  who  reads  any,  incurs  excommunication,  'Hpso 
facto;"  therefore  the  students  are  unaware  of  the  doctrines  of 
other  religions,  and  of  the  charges  which  they  lay  against  popery, 
save  that  the  teachers  repeat  that  the  followers  of  other  churches 
are  damned  because  they  shut  their  eyes  to  the  light,  and  they 
remain  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Church.  Ignorant  of  the  great 
throbbing  world,  and  of  its  needs,  thinking  only  of  itself,  Roman- 
ism builds  on  a  depraved,  not  upon  a  renewed  nature.  In  such  a 
faith  there  is  a  charm  for  an  ungodly  man  or  woman.  They 
have  a  form  of  godliness,  while  they  deny  the  power  thereof. 

A  priest  does  not  profess  to  be  a  renewed  man.  Entering  a 
car,  a  priest  sat  along  in  his  seat,  and  I  sat  down  beside  him. 
He  took  out  his  Latin  Prayer-book,  and  began  reciting  words 
in  the  usual  way.  I  asked  him,  "Have  you  a  Bible  ?" — "Not  with 
file." — "Why  do  you  not  carry  a  Bible  instead  of  tliat  Latin 
book?"    He  replied,  "We  are  compelled  to  say  so  many  prayers; 


NIXETEEXTH  CEXTUKV  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  311 

we  are  not  commanded  to  read  the  Bible." — "Don't  you  think  God 
infinitely  wise?" — "Yes." — ''Well,  then,  why  do  you  not  read  His 
Word,  and  make  it  the  lamp  to  your  feet,  and  the  light  to  your 
path?" — He  frankly  said  he  was  not  interested  in  it.  Then  I 
said,  "Tell  me  your  experience;  were  you  ever  converted?"  He 
did  not  understand  the  question.  I  told  him  my  own  experience; 
he  became  interested;  then  opening  my  Bible  I  showed  him 
what  promises  blessed  my  life.  All  day  we  talked.  At  night  he 
said,  "I  never  heard  of  this  life  before,  and  never  traversed  these 
paths."  The  Bible  was  to  him  an  unknown  book.  He  had  never 
explored  its  mines  of  wealth,  nor  revelled  in  its  beauties,  nor 
drank  from  its  streams  of  joy.  As  a  result  he  was  without  the 
love  of  Christ,  which  is  the  mainspring  of  action  in  the  redeem- 
ed. He  chose  the  work  and  life  of  a  priest  for  reasons  entirely 
removed  and  apart  from  those  experiences  which  control  the 
students  in  our  theological  seminaries. 

As  a  rule,  priests  come  from  the  ranks  of  the  humble.  They 
desire  heaven.  They  view  a  religious  life,  not  as  a  condition  of 
enjoyment,  but  of  sacrifice.  The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  not  their 
strength,  but  rather  the  misery  of  the  body  and  the  agony  and 
unrest  of  mind.  We  wonder  how  they  can  be  up  at  early  masses, 
because  we  forget  their  training.  The  parents  glory  in  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  a  child  become  a  priest,  and  stand  in  the  place 
of  God,  create  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  wafer,  pardon  sins, 
say  masses  for  the  living  and  the  dead,  grant  indulgences,  and 
perform  services  incident  to  the  office.  He  enters  the  so-called 
theological  school.  There  he  comes  in  contact  with  others  like 
himself.  There  is  no  knowledge  of  God  communicated.  Noth- 
ing is  said  of  a  soul's  needs,  of  its  peril  without  Christ.     No 


213  NINETEEXTII  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM. 

prayer-meetings  are  held,  where  heart  touches  heart,  where  expe- 
riences Hght  up  the  path,  and  appeals  come  to  the  soul.  Instead 
is  the  monotony  of  forms  and  ceremonies.  We  wonder  at  the 
seclusion  of  the  priest.  We  will  wonder  less  when  we  see  how 
priests  are  brought  up  to  be  a  part  of  the  machine  with  their 
manhood  destroyed.  Enter  a  school  for  priests.  Behold  a  com- 
pany of  young  men  who  at  the  outset  believed  they  were  to  se- 
cure the  salvation  of  their  souls,  not  by  exercising  a  faith  in 
Christ's  atoning  blood,  not  by  a  consecration  of  life  to  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  truth,  but  by  submitting  to  torture,  to  self-denial, 
to  fasting,  to  wakefulness.  He  enters  the  institution.  Impene- 
trable silence  is  the  rule.  Mystery  enshrouds  everything.  He 
takes  the  vows  of  celibacy,  obedience,  and  poverty,  and  in  due 
time  learns  to  break  them  all.  He  begins  his  life.  Let  us  go 
through  a  day.  All  arise  at  1 130  a.  m.,  and  assemble  in  the  choir 
to  sing  Latin  canticles  known  as  matins.  These  are  chanted  in  a 
low  and  monotonous  tone  for  one  hour  and  a  quarter.  After 
fifteen  minutes  silent  meditation  on  some  pious  subject,  they 
again  retire,  and  meet  at  six  o'clock  in  the  chapel.  Two  masses 
are  read,  and  further  meditations  are  indulged  in,  requiring  alto- 
gether one  and  a  half  hours.  The  rooms  are  now  put  in  order. 
Then  breakfast  is  announced.  Twelve  minutes  are  now  allowed 
for  this  meal,  which  is  eaten  standing,  and  consists  of  dry  bread 
and  one  cup  of  coffee.  From  8:15  to  9,  he  engages  in  reading  in 
the  room.  During  the  next  three-quarters  of  an  hour  they  per- 
form the  necessary  household  work;  then  examination  of  con- 
science, one  quarter  hour.  At  10,  study  and  recitation  one  hour. 
At  II,  all  gather  in  the  clioir,  and  devote  one  hour  to  Latin  pray- 
ers.    During  the  half  hour  allowed  for  dinner,  a  spiritual  book 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  313 

is  read  aloud.  At  12 130,  recreation  and  rest  in  room  two  hours. 
At  2 130,  vespers  in  choir  one-half  hour.  The  windows  are  now 
darkened,  and  all  sit  in  silent  meditation  one  hour.  Now  the 
rosary  is  said :  this  consists  of  the  Creed,  six  repetitions  of  the 
Lord's  prayer,  fifty-three  Hail  Mary's,  and  as  many  pious  ejacu- 
lations. At  4:15,  spiritual  readings  in  rooms  one  half  hour,  then 
one  hour's  study.  At  5 145  each  goes  to  arrange  his  room. 
At  6,  recreation  one  half-hour.  At  6:30,  chanting  in 
choir  one  half-hour.  From  7  to  8:45,  supper  and  recreation. 
The  day  closes  with  another  rosary.  On  Sunday  the  studies 
are  omitted,  and  on  that  day  and  on  Thursday  the  time 
after  vespers  is  given  to  recreation.  We  have  here  six  and 
three-quarter  hours  occupied  by  devotions,  so  called,  which  con- 
sist solely  in  the  repetition  of  words.  Of  the  two  hours  assigned 
to  study,  one  is  occupied  with  Latin  grammar,  the  other  Is  passed 
in  translating  into  English  a  few  Latin  verses  of  Scripture  daily 
selected  for  them.  Their  knowledge  of  Latin  is,  of  course,  ex- 
tremely limited,  and  the  Bible  in  that  tongue  is  almost  a  sealed 
book.  The  institution  has  a  good  library;  but  no  novice  has  ac- 
cess to  it,  for,  as  a  priest  puts  it,  "Many  books  should  be  read 
only  by  those  who  understand  them."  How  one  is  to  understand 
them  without  reading  them,  passes  comprehension.  How  can 
they  understand  it  except  they  read  it?  "Don't  know,"  replies 
the  so-called  infallible  teacher,  but  "don't  forget  the  command." 
Besides,  those  who  can  read  can  spend  but  a  little  time  in  the 
library.  By  the  time  one  is  interested,  the  bell  calls  to  the  choir, 
the  chapel,  or  to  other  duties.  The  Bible  in  the  common  tongue, 
history,  fiction,  and  newspapers  of  every  description,  are  rigidly 
excluded.    The  novice  is  absolutely  confined  to  his  spiritual  read- 


314  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

ing,— a  few  purely  devotional  books,  mainly  the  lives  of  saints. 
To  these  are  devoted,  including  the  noon,  about  one  and  three- 
quarter  hours  daily. 

Let  us  open  the  biography  of  "St.  Paul  of  the  Cross,"  an 
Italian  monk  of  the  last  century,  and  founder  of  the  Passionist 
Order.  After  describing  on  p.  225,  Paul's  delights  in  early  youth, 
such  as  long  prayers,  fasting,  sleeping  on  the  bare  floor,  scourg- 
ing himself  to  blood,  drinking  gall,  etc.,  we  are  told  on  p.  227, 
in  Gaeta  there  is  preserved  a  belt  of  iron  set  with  points,  three  or 
four  inches  wide;  and  a  discipline  of  cords  with  seven  thongs, 
each  of  which  has  at  the  end  a  ball  of  lead  with  six  iron  points 
round  it  all  stained  with  blood. 

In  his  cell  at  the  Retreat  of  Vetralla  may  be  seen  a  cross  set 
with  a  hundred  and  eighty-six  iron  points,  which  he  used  to  wear 
on  his  naked  breast.  Elsewhere  we  found  a  heart  of  iron,  full  of 
sharp  points,  a  ball  set  with  longer  points,  and  several  disciplines 
prepared  in  a  similar  way.  All  these  instruments  were  stained 
with  blood  pressed  out  of  his  body. 

Of  the  saint's  voluntary  poverty  we  read  on  p.  230 :  "It  was 
really  edifying  to  see  him  oftentimes  leave  his  place  in  the  refec- 
tory, go  round  the  table,  and  humbly  ask  of  the  religious  who 
were  seated  at  it,  a  little  bread  for  charity;  and  this  he  ate  mod- 
estly, kneeling  on  the  floor  by  the  door." 

In  a  long  chapter  entitled,  "His  most  unsullied  Purity," 
Paul  himself  says  (p.  234),  "I  had  rather  have  my  eyes  plucked 
out  by  the  hangman  than  fix  them  on  the  face  of  a  person  of  the 
other  sex."  On  p.  236,  "Our  Lord  was  pleased  to  recompense 
the  spotless  purity  of  his  servant  by  a  sweet  fragrance  which 
came  from  his  virginal  body.    In  the  Retreat  of  Tascanella  his 


NINETEEN  Til  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  315 

room  preserved  this  heavenly  fragrance  for  about  six  months.'* 
Surely  that  was  the  odor  of  sanctity. 

Page  222  informs  the  reader  that  often  the  saint's  room 
was  filled  with  devils,  who  woke  him  in  terror  by  their  hisses  and 
other  horrible  noises,  as  if  there  were  discharged  several  pieces 
of  artillery.  Sometimes  they  violently  pulled  off  his  bedclothes, 
sometimes  walked  over  his  bed  in  the  form  of  cats,  often  ap- 
peared like  enormous  dogs,  or  hateful-looking  birds,  or  as  enor- 
mous giants,  tormenting  and  vexing  him  for  the  defeats  they 
tmderwent  from  him.  On  p.  249  a  miracle  is  described :  '*In  the 
city  of  Handi  a  hen  is  preserved  because  of  a  miracle  recorded 
by  a  witness  on  his  oath.  He  was  stopping  in  that  city,  at  the 
house  of  Senor  Gaffredi.  His  very  kind  benefactors,  wishing  to 
treat  the  servant  of  God  with  due  respect,  sent  out  and  bought  a 
hen  for  his  dinner.  When  St.  Paul  saw  it  on  the  table,  he  said 
to  the  lady  of  the  house,  'You  have  done  wrong  to  kill  that  poor 
animal,  because,  with  her  eggs,  she  was  the  support  of  the  poor 
woman  to  whom  she  belonged.  Let  us  do  an  act  of  charity. 
Open  that  window.'  The  window  is  opened.  He  now  blesses 
the  animal,  already  cooked  as  she  was,  in  the  name  of  the  Trin- 
ity. He  had  hardly  pronounced  the  words,  when  the  hen  re- 
turned to  life,  was  covered  with  feathers,  took  wing,  and  went 
screaming  through  the  window,  to  the  house  of  the  poor  widow 
from  whom  she  had  been  stolen  by  the  man  who  sold  her."  A 
hen  already  cooked,  restored  to  life,  re-feathered,  flying  home, 
and  beginning  to  lay  eggs  for  her  owner,  is  a  first-class  miracle. 
The  feat  was  performed  by  a  saint,  recorded  by  an  eye  witness, 
and  sworn  to  by  a  Romish  oath,  which  settles  the  question  of  its 
reliabihty.    This  St.  Paul,  Pio  Nono,  on  June  29,  1867,  indorsed, 


316  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  RO}L.lNISM. 

and  declared  to  be  a  saint  to  be  invoked  and  prayed  to  by  the 
whole  Catholic  world.  In  this  school  the  Bible  is  banished  as 
an  unsafe  book  to  read,  and  such  fables  as  have  been  described 
are  given  the  novices  being  trained  as  the  leaders  of  the  Roman- 
Catholic  host.  They  zvill  not  endure  strong  doctrines.  They 
turn  av.'ay  their  ears  from  the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned  unto 
fables.  Not  only  do  the  priests  study  these  biographies,  but  they 
form  the  choice  literature  of  Roman  Catholics. 

Are  men  thus  educated  fitted  for  the  responsibilities  of  our 
American  life?  Why  is  such  education  given ?  There  is  method 
in  this  m^adness.  By  means  such  as  these,  every  vestige  of  com- 
mon sense  is  carefully  eradicated,  every  spark  of  independence 
or  feeling  of  manhood  is  completely  extinguished.  Rome  be- 
lieves that  ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion.  This  training 
was  not  given  in  France,  nor  in  Ireland,  but  in  Allegheny  City, 
Penn.  It  is  not  a  sketch  drawn  from  the  past,  but  from  the  living 
present.  Its  design,  end,  and  aim  is  to  make  in  America,  Roman- 
Catholic  priests  as  bigoted,  as  superstitious,  as  fanatical,  as  were 
those  who  groped  in  the  dark  ages.  The  purpose  is  not  to  lift  up, 
but  to  drag  down.  Their  breviary  is  their  Bible,  their  God  the 
Pope.     His  voice  they  hear,  his  commands  they  obey. 

Rev.  F.  J.  McCarthy,  S.  J.,  in  December,  1887,  in  a  lecture 
at  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Perpetual  Help,  Boston,  pro- 
nounces the  American  public-school  system  a  national  fraud. 
The  Father  that  does  not  defend  the  children  of  the  Church 
antagonizes  the  interests  of  every  child  in  the  State.  Why? 
Because  of  his  education.  What  will  American  Romanists  do 
about  it?    Well  has  a  Roman  Catholic  said, — 

"You  say  the  common-school  system  is  a  national  fraud, 


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318  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

that  it  is  contrary  to  the  common  weal,  that  it  is  against  the  inter- 
ests of  the  citizen,  and  cannot  be  a  national  instituion  any  longer; 
it  must  cease  to  exist,  and  the  day  will  come  when  it  will  cease 
to  exist.  Do  you  call  a  system  of  education  that  places  the  poor 
man's  child  and  the  rich  man's  child  side  by  side  in  the  school- 
room, with  the  same  books,  with  the  same  teacher  for  instructor, 
and  starts  them  equally  on  the  path  to  knowledge,  a  fraud,  and 
contrary  to  the  common  weal?  Do  you  pronounce  the  law  a 
fraud,  and  against  the  interest  of  the  citizen,  that  compels  the 
children  of  the  ignorant,  the  children  of  the  vile  and  degraded, 
who  care  nothing  for  education  or  law,  to  go  to  school  where  they 
can  learn  knowledge  and  purity,  and  aspire  to  the  highest  honors 
in  the  State?  And  do  you  pray  for  the  time  when  such  benign 
laws  and  beneficent  institutions  shall  cease  to  exist  ? 

"Allow  me  to  tell  you,  reverend  sir,  that  when  they  do  cease 
to  exist,  the  free  institutions  of  this  country  will  cease  to  exist,  for 
the  public  schools  are  the  palladium  of  our  free  institutions.  You 
declare  there  are  some  eight  millions  of  Catholics  in  this  country 
now  who  protest  against  this  institution.  I  deny  it.  Take  away 
the  fear  and  thunder  of  the  clergy,  and  you  will  not  find  a  Catho- 
lic— a  citizen  of  these  United  States  who  is  interested  in  educa- 
tion— ^protesting  against  this  institution.  I  admit  there  are  some 
recent  importations  of  Catholics  who  would  like  to  Germanize, 
Irishize,  and  whiskeyize  America.  Go  down  into  the  Catholic 
rum-shops,  and  drag  those  lazy,  drunken,  villainous  rumsellers 
from  behind  their  counters,  and  make  them  stop  selling  their 
vile,  poisonous  liquor,  and  you  will  stop  three-quarters  of  the 
poverty  and  wretchedness  and  crime  in  your  cities,  and  you  will 
then  be  able  to  gather  the  children  of  your  parish  into  the  Sunday 
schools. 


NINETEEXTII  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  31» 

*'No,  Father  McCarthy,  your  fears  are  g-roundless.  Leave 
the  pubhc  schools  alone.  Let  this  munificent  institution  be  your 
devotion  by  day  and  your  prayers  by  night.  Love  and  cherish 
it,  and  exhort  your  people  to  make  the  most  of  its  advantages. 
It  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  the  Catholics  and  to  the  country, 
and  extends  its  liberal  and  beneficent  aid  to  all.  It  stands  a  bul- 
wark between  the  State  and  the  evils  of  the  Irish  rumseller  and 
the  German  beer-garden.  To-day  how  many  Catholics  bless  the 
public  schools  for  the  influence  they  lent  in  advancing  their  chil- 
dren to  places  of  wealth  and  honor !" 

As  a  writer  in  'The  Journal  of  Education,"  Boston,  Mass., 
in  January,  1888,  said,  "Methods  must  be  determined  by  the 
logic  of  events :  by  some  means  to  be  developed  by  circumstances 
they  will  establish  as  great  American  principles  (i)  that  it  is 
un-American  for  any  class  to  be  exclusive  in  their  education;  (2) 
that  it  is  ruinous  to  the  individuals  of  any  faith  that  establishes 
class  distinctions  in  American  society;  (3)  that  the  common- 
school  system  is  largely  responsible  for  making  America  what 
she  is;  (4)  that  it  was  our  universal  education  as  contrasted  with 
very  general  home  ignorance,  that  first  attracted  many  of  her 
peoples  to  our  shores;  (5)  that  they  owe  more  to  our  schools 
than  to  any  thing  else  in  this  country;  (6)  that  Rome  has  never 
furnished  universal  education  in  any  country;  (7)  that  there  is 
no  ground  for  suspicion  that  she  would  furnish  it  in  America  if 
it  were  not  for  the  purpose  of  withdrawing  the  children  from  the 
common  schools;  (8)  that  America  is  jealous  of  the  common- 
school  idea,  and  will  resent  any  movement  that  would  dethrone 
it;  (9)  that  it  is  not  the  voice  of  the  American  Romanists,  who 
bave  been,  and  still  are,  loyal  to  the  system  at  heart." 


320  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Lastly  and  chiefly,  America  objects  to  this  attack  upon  her 
common-school  system,  because  it  comes  from  Rome. 

Men  wonder  that  such  a  church  prospers.  Wonder  no  more. 
The  foundations  of  its  success  are  laid  not  in  a  redeemed  nature, 
but  in  human  nature,  and  carnal  at  that.  The  work  of  salvation 
is  taken  out  of  God's  hands,  and  put  into  the  hands  of  men  who, 
outside  of  their  vestments,  are  like  other  men,  touched  with  a 
feeling  of  the  infirmities  of  others,  because  they  have  them. 
They  are  not  like  our  Christ,  tempted  in  all  points,  like  as  we 
are,  yet  without  sin,  but  tempted,  yet  with  sin.  A  drunkard  sees 
at  the  altar  a  man  who  drinks,  who  gives  way  to  appetite,  who 
lives  a  life  of  sensual  delight.  The  sinner  who  cannot  go  to  God 
through  Christ  without  repentance  and  without  making  the  at- 
tempt to  break  off  his  sins  by  righteousness,  can  go  to  him  and 
confess  and  cling  to  sin,  and  go  on  and  out  from  the  confessional- 
box  as  if  the  play  was  real.  As  if  that  man  at  the  altar  was  God, 
and  as  if  the  man  taking  the  wafer-God  and  eating  it  was  re- 
deemed by  what  was  done  outside,  not  by  what  is  done  within  by 
the  cleansing  of  the  blood  and  the  washing  of  the  soul. 

The  people  in  Rome  here  are  like  the  people  in  Rome  in  Ire- 
land, in  Europe,  anyw^here.  They  tolerate  wrong-doing  as  it 
could  not  and  would  not  be  tolerated  in  any  evangelical  church. 
Let  a  breath  of  scandal  touch  an  evangelical  minister,  and  he  is 
set  aside  and  silenced  until  the  stain  is  removed.  In  Romanist 
circles  this  is  not  the  rule.  Take  the  case  of  Rev.  Florence  Mc- 
Carthy. 

He  was  pastor  for  many  years  of  St.  Cecilia,  a  large,  fashion- 
able Roman  Catholic  church,  situated  on  North  Henry  and  Her- 
bert Streets,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  His  organist  came  to  his  room  to 


MtXETEEXTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  ^21 


inquire  about  some  tickets.  A  little  boy  was  with  her.  The  priest 
tells  the  boy  to  stay  down  stairs,  and  invites  the  organist  to  his 
parlor,  near  which  is  his  study  and  sleeping  room.  The  door  is 
closed.  Without  warning  he  leaps  upon  her  like  a  beast,  attempts 
to  bear  her  down  upon  the  sofa  and  commit  an  assault.  She 
shrieks  for  help,  and  gets  away  from  him.  Her  hair  is  disturbed, 
her  bonnet  is  awry  and  one-sided,  her  face  is  flushed,  and  she 
passes  by  the  servant  into  the  street,  after  the  Father  begs  of  her 
to  say  nothing  about  it,  and  offers  her  a  brush  and  comb  to  make 
herself  presentable.  Does  that  ruin  him,  even  in  her  estimation  ? 
She  goes  on  and  plays.  By  and  by,  months  afterw^ard,  she  tells  her 
parents  as  an  excuse  for  not  going  to  confession.  There  is  a 
scene  in  St.  Cecilia.  The  irate  Irish  mother  rises  in  a  crowded 
service,  and  denounces  the  priest,  saying,  "You  have  insulted 
my  daughter!  meddle  zvith  her  again,  and  I  zvill  shoot  you!" 
The  father  leaps  upon  his  feet,  and  shakes  his  fist  at  him.  Both 
are  arrested  for  disturbing  a  service.  The  priest  is  master.  Does 
such  notoriety  do  him  harm?  Not  at  all.  The  services  are  just 
as  crowded.  The  priest  laughs  at  the  opposition,  says  the  organ- 
ist had  been  dismissed,  when,  in  fact,  she  gave  up  the  keys  be- 
cause of  the  insults  she  received  and  the  fear  she  endured.  She 
carried  the  case  to  the  bishop.  Nothing  w.as  done.  Did  it  make 
the  man  more  careful  ?  Not  at  all.  He  drank  as  deeply,  and  in 
a  little  time  called  up  to  him  a  girl  whom  he  took  out  of  an  orphan 
asylum  when  twelve  years  of  age,  brought  to  his  priest's  house, 
where  he  assaulted  her  as  a  girl,  and  without  doubt  did  as  he 
chose  after  it,  and,  in  a  short  time  after  the  assault  upon  the  or- 
ganist, accomplished  an  assault  upon  his  servant,  then  eighteen 
years  of  age,  again  and  again,  until  one  day,  in  his  drunken  wild- 


S2^  NiNLTEEXTH  CEXTURY  DEEDS  OP  ROMANtSM. 


iiess,  he  struck  her  and  knocked  her  against  an  ice  chest,  when  sHe 
ran  out  into  the  yard,  chmbed  over  the  fence,  and  made  her 
escape.  When  she,  too,  went  to  Bishop  LaughHn,  the  man  of 
power  in  the  town,  he  expressed  his  disapprobation  at  the  con- 
duct of  Priest  McCarthy,  said  these  complaints  were  constantly 
coming  to  him,  and  yet,  in  compliance  with  his  Jesuit  oath,  fur- 
nished the  priest  the  best  lawyer  money  could  procure,  and  stood 
by  him  as  if  innocence  was  being  betrayed.  The  poor  girl  was 
accused  of  stealing,  and  sent  to  jail.  No  one  went  on  her  bail 
bond,  while  the  priest,  who  had  been  sent  to  the  lock-up,  was 
bailed  out  at  once.  The  trial  came  on.  The  girl  told  her  story. 
The  priest  denied  it,  doubtless  with  a  mental  reservation,  saying 
doubtless  to  himself,  "I  deny  it,  though  it  is  true;  I  deny  it  to 
others  in  word,  though  I  admit  it  to  myself  as  a  fact,"  which  St. 
Liguori  allows  him  to  do.  The  case  is  adjourned.  Arrested  as 
a  thief,  the  poor  girl  tells  her  story,  and  is  acquitted.  The  case 
of  assault  comes  on.  The  priest  denies  everything.  She  affirms. 
At  length,  because  she  did  not  scream  while  he  held  a  hand  over 
her  mouth,  or  scratch  the  adulterer's  face,  the  court  decided 
against  her.    This  is 

Justice  Nache/s  Decision. 

He  said  the  only  question  for  the  court  to  decide  was  whether 
there  \\*as  probable  cause  to  believe  that  the  alleged  crime  was 
committed  by  the  defendant.  While  Kate  Dixon's  account  of  the 
transaction  was  very  minute,  and  she  declared  that  she  made  re- 
sistence,  yet  the  law  required  that  there  should  be  the  utmost 
resistance  on  the  part  of  the  person  thus  assaulted.  She  declared 
that  she  was  dragged  by  force  from  the  parlor  into  the  bedroom, 


NIXETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  323 


anH  yet  during  this  alleged  violence  she  did  not  scream  aloud. 
The  court  said  it  could  not  believe  it  was  impossible  for  the  pro- 
secutrix to  free  her  hands  from  the  grasp  of  the  defendant,  and 
make  use  of  them,  as  the  law  requires.  According  to  the  evi- 
dence, there  was  not  a  mark  of  violence  either  on  the  prosecutrix 
or  the  defendant  after  the  alleged  assault.  The  court  then  went 
into  details  regarding  the  assault. 

Her  statement,  said  Justice  Naeher,  that  the  defendant  made 
her  take  an  oath  not  to  reveal  the  crime,  might  account  for  her 
not  revealing  it  immediately,  in  consequence  of  her  religious  fear. 
She  w*as  not  affected  thereby  at  the  time  of  the  alleged  commis- 
sion of  the  crime. 

The  opinion  of  this  court  is  that  a  girl  outraged  as  the  com- 
plainant declares  she  was  would  have  shown  some  excitement  in 
her  bearing  or  her  speech  so  shortly  after  the  perpetration  of  the 
crime  upon  her.  Upon  these  grounds  the  court  finds  that  the 
crime  has  not  been  committed,  and  that  there  is  not  probable  cause 
to  believe  the  defendant  guilty.  The  complaint  is  hereby  dis- 
missed, and  the  prisoner  discharged. 

Notice,  not  a  word  is  said  in  condemnation  of  the  lecherous 
priest,  not  a  word  disapproving  the  act,  but  only  that  the  girl 
yielded  too  readily.  This  occurred  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  the 
trial  took  place  July  9,  1883.  Was  the  priest  set  aside?  By  no 
means.  He  went  on  with  his  duties  as  priest,  and  in  January, 
1884,  was  tried  for  his  assault  upon  his  organist,  and  the  jury 
unanimously  convicted  him,  and  he  was  fined  six  cents.  This 
shows  that  the  standard  is  extremely  low  for  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  public  estimation,  and  evidences  that  here,  as  in  the 
Old  World>  priests  are  indifferent  to  public  opinion.    The  paper 


324  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


that  champions  Romanism,  and  is  its  swift  apologist,  was  com- 
pelled to  enter  its  protest  against  this  conduct  of  bishop  and 
priest,  and  say,  "Is  it  creditable  that  two  Roman  Catholic  young 
women  should  separately  charge  this  priest  with  the  same  offence, 
which  was  alleged  to  have  been  successful  in  the  case  of  the  ser- 
vant, but  only  attempted  in  that  of  the  organist?  What  could 
induce  these  young  women  to  swear  away  their  characters  if  he 
was  innocent?"  This  is  not  new  in  Romish  circles.  In  Spain, 
in  France,  in  Mexico — wherever  the  opportunity  has  been  given, 
the  brutality  of  the  priesthood  has  brought  forth  a  mighty  cloud 
of  witnesses  against  them. 

'The  remarkable  thing  to  the  public  has  been  that  his 
bishop  has  made  no  sign,  and  that,  zvith  a  criminal  charge  against 
him,  he  has  suffered  the  priest  to  administer  tlie  sacraments,  and 
continue  to  receive  young  zvomen  as  penitents  at  confession.  It 
is  now  impossible  for  his  ecclesiastical  superior  to  avoid  taking 
action.  A  jury  of  twelve  citizens  of  Brooklyn  have  found  him 
guilty  of  a  criminal  assault.  It  is  an  affront  to  the  whole  Catholic 
population."  Not  a  bit  of  it.  The  Catholic  population  made  no 
sign.  The  priest  continued  to  minister  at  the  altar,  until  other 
offences,  combined  to  drive  him  forth  to  pastures  new.  Another 
priest,  riding  with  a  harlot,  falls  from  his  carriage  because  of  in- 
toxication, is  arrested,  carried  to  the  station  house,  and  sent  to  his 
church.  It  was  such  facts  as  these,  spread  upon  the  printed  page 
day  after  day,  that  demanded  that  some  one  with  a  character  un- 
stained and  a  reputation  unsullied  should  permit  the  wrongs  of 
a  poor  nun,  compelled  to  flee  for  her  life  and  the  life  of  her  child 
from  the  Black  Nunnery  of  Montreal  to  the  alms-house,  New 
York;    the  statement  of  a  priest,  who,  revolting  against  the  in^ 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  325 


iquities  he  saw  and  shared,  gave  up  position  and  HveHhood  for 
honor;  the  wail  of  the  poor,  helpless  women  and  girls  outraged 
in  the  confessionals,  and  rising  up  to  God,  and  crying  aloud  for 
deliverance  from  the  terrible  cruelty  and  barbarities  of  the  priest- 
hood— to  find  voice  in  human  speech  as  he  should  take  these  ter- 
rible truths,  forge  them  into  a  livid  thunderbolt,  and,  standing 
across  the  track  of  Rome,  should  hurl  it  with  might  and  main  into 
the  face  of  that  power  that  has  beggared  and  degraded  Europe, 
and  that  seeks  to  despoil  America  of  her  birthright,  and  leave 
the  proud  inheritance  of  our  fathers  to  become  the  play  and  the 
sport  of  these  enem.ies  of  liberty. 

In  marriage  there  is  a  remedy  for  these  evils.  A  good  wife 
in  the  St.  Cecilia  parish  would  have  furnished  protection  to  ser- 
vant and  organist.  Besides,  a  priest  needs  the  companionship  of 
an  ennobling  helpmeet,  whose  brain  is  cultured,  whose  heart  is 
filled  with  love,  to  brighten  and  bless  his  life.  What  saith  the 
Word  of  God ?  "Let  a  bishop  be  the  husband  of  one  wife;"  and 
in  the  first  part  of  Genesis  we  read.  "It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be 
alone." 

Though  forbidding  to  marry  is  a  characteristic  of  the  apos- 
tasy, yet  it  is  said  the  Pope  issued  a  dispensation  permitting  the 
Puseyite  clergymen  to  enter  the  Roman  Church  with  their  wives. 
This  is  done  on  the  ground  that  they  come  in  as  men  not  apos- 
tolically  ordained.  If  this  can  be  done  for  Englishmen,  and  if  it 
be  true  that  priests  are  men  with  like  passions  v/ith  prophets, 
apostles,  and  patriarchs,  all  of  whom  were  free  to  marry,  why  may 
it  not  be  possible  for  priests  in  America  to  have  their  own  wives, 
as  do  the  priests  of  Greece,  and  the  Maronites  of  Russia,  who 
joined  the  Roman  Catholic  communion,  and  have  been  permitted 
to  retain  their  wives? 


32S  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  R0M4NISM, 

'^Chickens  come  home  to  roost," 

Is  an  old  proverb  which  it  will  do  well  for  the  people  of  this  free 
land  to  consider.  Over  and  over  again  it  has  been  said  that  the 
theology  of  Rome  tolerates  lying,  stealing,  and  all  crimes.  The 
people  do  not  realize  it.  Some  saw  it  when  this  priest,  McCarthy, 
was  proven  on  the  stand  to  have  lied.  He  got  out  of  it  by  claim- 
ing that  he  spoke  with  a  mental  reservation.  Again,  wjhen  on 
his  oath,  he  denied  flatly  what  had  been  proven.  The  lawyer 
asked : 

Do  you  ever  testify  under  reservation  ? 

Father  McCarthy — I  do. 

Lawyer — Do  you  say  this  girl  did  not  come  voluntarily,  and 
deliver  up  the  keys  ? 

Father  McCarthy — No. 

Lawyer — Is  this  a  mental  reservation? 

Question  ruled  out  as  trenching  on  religious  belief. 

Lawyer — Were  you,  on  June  12,  under  the  influence  of 
liquor  ? 

Father  McCarthy — No. 

Lawyer — Is  this  a  mental  reservation? 

Question  ruled  out. 

Lawyer — How  many  times  have  ladies  and  girls  complained 
to  your  bishop  of  your  assaults  ? 

Ruled  out. 

Lawyer — How  many  bottles  of  whiskey  did  you  drink  while 
professedly  sick? 

Ruled  out. 

This  is  the  man,  drunken,  lecherous,  vile,  who  passed  from 
his  assaults  on  the  helpless  to  the  altar,  and  was  tolerated  because 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  Z2t 


Romanism  is  What  it  is.  From  such  examples  and  influences, 
harm  and  only  harm  can  come.  These  are  the  educators  of  the 
youth.  They  pose  before  them  as  representatives  of  the  Christ 
who  offers  us  salvation.  Their  characters  are  disgraced  and  de- 
graded, as  a  rule.  To-day  they  are  sowing  to  the  wind ;  ^  to-mor- 
row we  shall  reap  the  whirlwind.  Our  cities  are  filling  up  with 
hoodlums,  and  our  prisons  and  alms-houses  are  being  crowded 
with  these  representatives  of  a  Church  that  panders  to  vice,  mak- 
ing a  jest  of  virtue  and  a  plaything  of  religion.  It  becomes  the 
people  to  remember  that  America  is  surrendering  to  Rome,  and 
in  this  surrender  there  is  greater  peril  than  they  apprehend. 

It  is  a  well-established  fact,  that  parochial  schools,  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  priests  and  bishops,  are  valueless.  The 
exercises  are  made  up  principally  of  the  rudiments  of  theology, 
and  are  such  as  lead  the  boys  to  shun  the  process  to  w'hich  they 
are  subjected  in  the  schoolroom.  Hence  they  become  truants, 
not  permitted  to  attend  the  public  schools,  and  acquire  vicious 
habits  in  their  wanderings  about  the  city.  The  result  is,  that 
scarcely  a  boy  can  be  found  in  the  Catholic  schools  of  our  large 
cities  to'  exceed  fourteen  years  of  age.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
"no  one  will  deny  the  right  of  any  sect  to  establish  schools  among 
themselves  for  the  instruction  of  their  children."  But  while  this 
is  true,  it  would  be  equally  absurd  to  approve  of  a  course  calcu- 
lated to  weaken  our  influence  over  the  masses  that  are  thronging 
our  shores.  They  learn,  in  sectarian  schools,  to  regard  them- 
selves as  a  distinct  sect,  a  people  with  scarcely  a  single  interest  in 
common  with  their  neighbors.  They  grow  up  foreigners,  though 
invested  with  functions  of  citizens.  It  is  notorious  that  the  range 
of  studies  in  these  church  schools  is  very  restricted,  and  that 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  329 

children  confined  to  them  cannot  attain  the  generous  culture  which 
our  pubHc  schools  afford.  Such  children  are  not  taught  what  it 
most  concerns  them  to  know.  They  are  not  instructed  in  refer- 
ence to  the  nature  of  our  institutions;  but,  what  is  more,  they  are 
inspired  with  the  most  active  jealousy,  if  not  filled  with  the  most 
bitter  hatred,  of  all  otlier  denominations.  They  are  led  to  make 
it  a  matter  of  conscience  to  support  their  Church,  at  wlhatever 
pecuniary  sacrifice  to  themselves,  and  at  whatever  risks  to  the 
interests  of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  question  to  be  decided  by  the  citizens  of  the  Republic  is 
this:  How  shall  Americans  be  educated?  Doubt  history,  ye 
who  can;  but  if  the  past  is  capable  of  teaching  useful  lessons, 
if  the  experience  of  a  thousand  years  is  worth  anything,  it  shows 
that  it  is  not  safe  to  intrust  the  measureless  interests  of  education 
to  that  Church  which  created  the  deep,  dense  gloom  of  the  dark 
ages. 

The  nunneries  of  this  land  are  particularly  deserving  of 
attention.  They  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Church  for 
propagating  the  faith  among  Protestants.  For  this  reason  they 
will  educate  Protestant  children  at  less  expense  than  Catholics. 
Every  attention  is  bestowed  upon  them.  The  Sisters  of  Charity, 
by  kindness,  flattery,  and  insinuating  acts  of  devotion,  exercise 
an  influence  over  them,  which  oftentimes  destroys  their  confi- 
dence in  the  Bible,  and  produces  an  impression  upon  their  minds 
which  is  only  deepened  by  remonstrance  and  advice.  Every  part 
of  the  great  machine  called  Popery  is  of  such  a  nature  as  requires 
to  be  fully  understood.  Protestant  parents  cannot  believe  that 
there  is  danger  in  allowing  children  to  receive  their  education 
from  Catholic  hands.    They  will  not  believe  it  until  they  find 


330  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

them,  in  secret,  counting  their  beads,  and  performing  orisons  to 
the  Virgin  Mary.  Instances  innumerable  could  be  given  to  sub- 
stantiate this  position.  The  disclosures  of  convent  life  have  been 
substantiated.  They  are  real  facts,  occurring  in  the  history  of 
hundreds  of  young  women,  fascinated  by  the  quiet  beauty  that 
characterizes  the  exterior  of  these  institutions.  But  when  it  is 
shown  that  they  have  lost  not  only  their  happiness  but  their 
virtue,  then  the  charm  is  dissipated. 

On  July  7,  1854,  William  Adams,  mayor  of  Allegheny  City, 
Pa.,  took  a  deposition  from  a  young  lady,  possessed  of  great 
wealth,  who  had  been  placed  in  the  palace  of  the  bishop.  She 
testified  to  the  conduct  of  the  bishop  and  said  that  her  person  was 
violated,  and  that  when  she  resisted,  she  was  told  not  to  resist  a 
bishop  or  priest,  because,  if  she  did,  she  would  not  get  a  reward  in 
the  other  world,  and  escape  the  torments  of  purgatory.  She  also 
told  of  the  results  of  the  illicit  intercourse  with  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  made  apparent  by  the  stench  of  the  dead  bodies  of  babies 
put  to  death  to  avoid  detection. 

Nunneries  occupy  a  conspicuous  place.  The  Church  of 
Rome  is  composed,  to  a  great  extent,  of  servant  girls  and  poor 
day  laborers,  who  are  unable  to  read,  and  who  commit  their 
souls'  keeping  to  the  Church.  Many  of  the  girls  look  forward 
with  joyous  anticipation  to  a  place  In  a  convent  or  nunnery. 
There  they  learn  to  care  for  the  sick  in  hospitals;  they  admin- 
ister to  the  passions  of  the  priests,  and  the  menial  wants  of  the 
higher  orders.  The  system  of  Romanism  provides  servants, 
who,  like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  come  into  our  very  bread  troughs. 
They  report  secrets  learned  at  the  fireside.  Music  teachers  gain 
access  to  our  parlors  anci  draw,ing  rooms;     Jesuits  pour  into 


MNETEEXTII  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  331 


every  nook  and  corner  of  society;  each  and  all  reporting  all  that 
will  further  the  interests  of  the  organization. 

Many  Protestants  think  that  they  ought  to  regard  papists 
as  belonging  to  one  of  the  many  fraternal  Christian  sects.  But 
in  this  stretch  of  their  liberality  they  do  not  seem  to  recognize 
the  fact  that  the  papists  refuse  to  acknowledge  Protestants  as  in 
any  sense  Christians.  They  are  unwilling  to  be  put  on  a  level 
with  them.  They  have  no  part  or  lot  with  them.  They  regard 
them  as  sons  of  Belial,  and  children  of  perdition  without  God  or 
hope. 

Is  it  strange  that  priests  and  people  educated  in  this  manner 
in  character,  in  purpose,  and  in  conduct,  become  similar  to  the 
servile  tools  of  popery  in  Italy  or  Austria  ? 

Count  Joseph  de  Maistre,  in  his  book  entitled  "The  Pope," 
says : 

The  government  of  the  Church  (the  papal)  must  he  mon~ 
archial;  and  if  monarchial,  as  it  certainly  and  invincibly  is,  what 
authority  shall  receive  an  appeal  from  its  decisions  ? 

Without  the  sovereign  Pontiff  there  is  no  real  Christianity. 
Christianity  is  wjholly  based  upon  the  sovereign  Pontiff,  and 
without  the  sovereign  Pontiff,  the  whole  edifice  of  Christianity 
is  undermined. 

The  will  of  man  goes  for  nothing  in  the  establishment  of 
government. 

^he  sovereign  Pontiff,  in  absolving  subjects  from  their  oath 
of  fidelity,  would  do  nothing  contrary  to  divine  right. 

Would  to  God  the  faithful  were  all  as  well  persuaded  as  the 
infidels  of  this  one  great  maxim,  "that  the  Church  and  the  Pope 
^re  all  one," 


332  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 

The  opposite  of  the  fooUsh  assertion,  "Man  is  born  free" 
is  the  truth. 

All  civilization  commences  with  the  priesthood  by  religious 
ceremonies,  by  miracles  even  whether  true  or  false. 

Monarchy  is  the  best  and  most  durable  of  governments,  and 
the  most  natural  to  man. 

In  accordance  wjith  the  sentiments  given  above,  all  of  which 
are  reliable  extracts  from  a  volume  indorsed  by  the  Romish 
Church,  the  highest  official  of  that  Church  in  America — the  Car- 
dinal— upon  assuming  his  office  swore  unalterable  fidelity  to  the 
following  as  part  of  his  creed :  "I  do  give  my  allegiance,  political 
as  well  as  religious,  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  Heretics,  schis- 
matics, and  rebels  to  our  lord  the  Pope,  I  will,  to  my  utmost, 
oppose  and  persecute." 

Yet  in  the  face  of  this  oath,  and  the  declaration  of  principles 
which  we  have  quoted  above.  Cardinal  Gibbons,  in  his  letter  ac- 
cepting the  invitation  to  officiate  at  the  Constitutional  Centennial, 
says,  "The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  worthy  of  being 
written  in  letters  of  gold." 

AVith  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Pope  resting  on  his  con- 
science, how  can  this  cardinal,  with  any  sincerity  or  consistency, 
eulogize  the  Constitution  of  a  Republic  which  was  begotten  by 
Proitestant  prayers,  and  which  is  now  sustained  and  carried 
forward  by  Protestant  piety  and  Protestant  brains  ? 

"We  are  very  strongly  tempted,"  says  Rev.  R.  H,  Nevin, 
"to  believe,  in  this  case,  that  what  was  condemned  in  the  Epistle 
of  James  many  centuries  ago  has  been  illustrated  in  these 
modern  times  by  the  Baltimore  Cardinal :  'Out  of  the  same 
mouth  proceecleth  blessing  and  cursing-.' " 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  333 

Are  men  thus  taught  and  ruled  becoming  Americanized  in 
character?  The  reverse  is  true.  Their  back  is  to  the  future. 
Their  face  is  to  the  past. 

The  Romish  priesthood  is  retrograding  rather  than  advanc- 
ing. One  who  \va.s  for  a  time  identified  with  mission  work  on 
Blackwell's  Island,  and  is  cognizant  of  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
Roman  Catholic  circles,  sadly  says : 

"We  have  often  sighed  and  wept  over  the  polluting  practices 
of  priests,  and  the  baleful  effects  on  confessors  and  penitents 
alike  of  the  things  prescribed  by  the  Church  for  the  salvation  and 
guidance  of  both.  Nobody  who  has  made  a  careful  study  of  the 
degrading  effects  of  the  Romish  system  upon  the  morals  of  the 
female  portion  of  the  community  can  fail  to  be  moved  with  in- 
dignation or  contempt  at  the  lying  boast  of  superior  purity  that 
is  so  frequently  made  by  the  priests  of  Rome  In  behalf  of  them- 
selves and  their  male  and  female  dupes.  It  is  absurd  to  think  or 
expect  that  men  and  women  who  are  knee-deep  in  moral  pitch 
every  time  they  enter  the  sin-box  of  Rome  can  escape  defilement. 
It  is  foolish  to  expect  that  any  young  blood  of  a  priest,  whose 
ears  are  the  cesspool  of  unbounded  and  unmentionable  infamy, 
will  escape  contamination,  when  the  word  of  God  expressly  says 
that  'evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners.'  " 

We  often  hear  of  the  purity  of  Irish  Catholic  females;  but 
little  is  said  of  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  them.  In 
New  York  and  elsewhere,  who  live  lives  of  shame,  with  the  scapula 
of  the  Virgin  around  their  necks,  and  in  many  instances  a  rosary 
of  beads  in  their  pockets  with  which  to  count  their  Hail  Marys, 
or  machine  prayers,  in  the  so-called  mother  of  God,  when 
they  have  not  the  boldness  to  approach  Jesus,  because  they  have 


334-         NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROM.INISM. 

crucified  him  afresh,  and  are  calloused,  wilful  reprobates  at  heart, 
who  have  no  desire  to  turn  from  their  vile  and  perverse  ways, 
and  whose  polluted  souls  it  is  impossible  to  renew  again. 

We  asked  a  missionary  who  was  instrumental  in  reaching 
four  hundred  fallen  women,  what  proportion  of  them  were  Cath- 
olics, and  were  informed  that  ninety-five  per  cent  of  them  were 
accustomed  to  bend  the  knee  to  a  priest,  and  be  questioned  in  the 
most  unblushing  manner  by  these  sacerdotal  celibates. 

In  the  city  of  Boston  are  priests  whose  lives,  if  laid  bare  to 
public  gaze,  would  be  a  most  striking  object  lesson  to  the  deni- 
zens of  Catholic  households,  and  the  citizens  generally  of  the 
Hub.  We  know  whereof  we  affirm.  We  have  seen  these  things 
with  our  own  eyes,  and  not  through  blue  glasses  either,  for  we 
were  then  admirers  of  the  scarlet  woman  of  Revelation,  Doctors 
have  told  us  a  thing  or  two  of  the  diseases  that  afflicted  these 
ecclesiastical  saints.  Hotel  keepers  have  told  us  of  the  many 
times  these  chaste  angels  of  Rome  came  to  their  place  in  the 
society  of  \\Tomen  whom  they  introduced  as  their  sisters,  and  re- 
mained until  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  drinking  wine, 
smoking  cigars,  and  devouring  turkey  and  chicken  salad  till  their 
brains  were  very  much  muddled,  and  their  eyes  stuck  out  with 
fatness. 

The  Romish  Church  has  contravened  the  law  of  God  and 
nature  by  this  impious  dogma  that  prohibits  its  priests  and 
bishops  marrying,  but,  nevertheless,  nature  will  have  its  fling 
somehow,  and  if  they  can't  do  as  the  gospel  advises,  they'll  pluck 
the  forbidden  fruit. 

We  were  told  by  a  priest  of  Rome  that  the  best  priest  of  his 
acquaintance  was  married,  and  the  father  of  seven  bright,  happx 


KIKnTCnXTH  CnXTURV  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM,  S3S 

little  ones.  Could  that  be  so?  Well,  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn  was 
a  priest  who,  while  officiating  at  the  altar  of  Rome,  hearing  con- 
fessions and  pardoning  sins,  marrying  men  and  women,  and 
baptizing  their  children,  was  lawfully  married  by  a  Protestant 
minister  across  the  river,  and  now  and  then  occupied  the  same 
apartment  with  the  wife  wjhom  he  loved,  and  in  the  face  of  the 
most  awful  and  trying  persecutions  clung  to. 

We  knew  of  another,  just  passed  to  his  eternal  reward,  who 
confessed  to  a  brother  in  this  work  that  not  less  than  sixty-five 
young  ladies  in  his  congregation  were  victims  of  his  fiendish 
lust. 

Where  we  spent  a  portion  of  our  time  in  wretched  seclu- 
sion was  an  institution  ruled  by  the  abbot  of  the  monastery,  in 
which  common  prostitutes  held  high  revel  with  the  holy  Fathers 
who  had  sworn  before  God  to  be  chaste.  This  we  were  told  by 
the  chancellor  of  that  diocese. 

During  a  portion  of  our  time  in  New  York  we  came  in  con- 
tact with  a  Protestant  young  lady  who  was  educated  in  a  convent, 
and  she  confessed  that  for  years  she  had  been  the  concubine  of  a 
Boston  priest,  who  every  two  weeks  came  on  here  to  spend  a  little 
time  with  this  miserable  girl,  whom  he  influenced  in  the  convent 
while  she  was  yet  in  her  teens. 

We  could  bring  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  show  that  if  there  is 
an  unchaste  set  of  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  who,  to  avoid 
fornication,  ought  to  have  their  own  wives,  it  is  Romish  priests. 
We  could  bring  the  McCarthys.  O'Connells,  and  O'Donnells,  the 
Ryans,  O'Briens,  and  Finnigans,  to  bear  testimony  to  the  truth  of 
the  statements  we  make.  And  how  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  Ask  any 
priest  who  has  ever  studied  the  theology  concerning  the  relations 


236  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

of  the  sexes,  if  it  is  possible  for  any  man  to  wade  through  such 
filth  without  having  his  imagination  corrupted  and  his  soul  de- 
filed ?  We  stranded  on  that  rock,  and  refused  to  deluge  our  brain 
with  facts  so  abominable  and  filthy.  If  there  is  any  man  on  the 
face  of  the  globe  who  ought  to  shun  the  perusal  of  such  things 
and  the  study  of  such  subjects,  it  is  the  celibate  priest,  monk,  or 
nun. 

The  facilities  Rome  has  to  hide  the  vileness  of  its  priests, 
hinder  the  onward  march  of  a  work  of  downright  opposition  to 
the  Church.  They  have  their  Magdalen  Homes  and  Orphan 
Asylums,  institutions  wjhich  have  been  a  hiding  place  for  rascals, 
a  refuge  for  the  weak  victims  of  their  insatiable  lust,  and  a  help 
rather  than  a  hindrance  to  crime  and  immorality.  It  is  a  sin  to 
erect  an  institution  that  is  avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  sheltering 
in  its  widespread  arms  the  fruit  of  secret  wrong.  It  were  better 
for  America  or  any  other  country  that  such  an  institution  never 
existed,  because  to  a  certain  extent  the  safeguards,  that  fear  of 
exposure  places  around  the  young,  are  entirely  removed. 

Has  it  slipped  the  memory  of  the  people,  that  several  priests 
of  the  most  secret,  oath-bound,  and  terrible  system  that  ever 
dominated  the  thought  or  cursed  the  liberty  of  humanity  have 
been  exposed  in  the  near  past,  and  proved  to  be  moral  mon- 
strosities ? 

Romanism  is  not  improving.  A  few  Romanists  are  coming 
to  the  light,  and  such  are  being  helped.  But  for  those  who  stay  in 
Rome,  and  bow  down  to  her  idols,  and  worship  her  images,  there 
is  no  progress.  They  are  chained  to  a  body  of  death.  Their  end 
is  destruction,  their  future  is  eternal  night.  If  they  are  to  be  saved. 
Christians  must  undertake  for  them,  and  they  must  do  it  now. 


XIXETEEXTH  CEXTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMAXISM.  337 


These  about  us  are  to  be  saved  through  our  instrumentahty,  or 
they  are  to  pass  beyond  the  bounds  of  hope;  and  God  hath  said, 
''This  shall  they  have  at  my  hand,  they  shall  lie  doivn  in  sorrow/* 
Who  preaches  to  them  ?  Who  prays  for  them,  beheving  that  the 
love  of  Christ  will  constrain  and  save  them  ?  Employ  it,  and  the 
blessing  is  sure  to  come.  Roman  Catholic  priests  who  stay  in 
Rome,  and  yield  to  its  temptations  and  fascinations,  are  making 
a  mock  of  religion ;  they  are  gambling  with  the  hopes  of  immortal 
souls;  they  believe  a  lie.  They  practice  what  they  believe,  and 
will  be  damned  unless  they  repent  of  their  sins,  and  turn  to  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  be  made  men  and  women,  pure  in  the 
likeness  of  Christ,  and  be  saved. 

Americans,  arous""  yourselves,  and  strike  Catholicism  any- 
where and  everywhere  and  don't  be  cowards,  for  God  hates 
nothing  worse  than  cowardice  in  his  cause. 


<2Sb 


High   Priest    Zironos,  of    Puerto    Rico,  who    had    control    of    all 

church  affairs  in  that  Island  until  his  idolatrous  customs  were 

checked  by  the  humane  hand  of  a  Protestant  nation. 


Chapter  XX. 

The  Catholic  Church  in  Politics. 

GREED   AND   LUST   THEIR   EVERY   OBJECT. 


iWhy  should  any  church,  or  body  of  religious  people  be 
eternally  grasping  out  for  worldly  gains  if  their  mission  on  earth 
is  to  save  souls,  and  how  can  they  hide  under  a  cloak  of  chastity 
and  Christianity,  when  every  page  of  their  history  is  marked  with 
the  scarlet  blood  of  the  innocent?  To  prove  to  the  American 
public  and  the  Protestant  world  that  Catholicism  is  now,  and 
always  has  been,  bloodthirsty  and  ravenous  for  gain,  regardless 
of  how  she  came  in  possession  of  it,  we  desire  to  quote  a  few 
figures,  taken  from  statistical  reports  which  can  not  be  denied. 

The  Spanish  government,  through  Torquema,  her  repre- 
sentative, who  was  appointed  by  Spanish  officials  to  raise  funds 
for  the  support,  both  of  the  government  and  the  Catholic  Church, 
condemned  to  the  galleys,  97,371  subjects,  and  caused  to  be 
burned  at  the  stake,  10,220,  and  within  the  next  fifty-three  years 
there  were  20,570  people  burned  alive,  11,700  burned  in  effigy, 
and  215,950  consigned  to  a  lingering  death  in  the  galleys. 


340  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


It  is  natural  taask  why  this  was  done,  for  one  would  suppose 
there  must  have  been  some  treasonable  offense  committed,  that  so 
many  subjects  should  give  up  their  lives,  but  not  so,  as  this 
blood-thirsty  inquisitor  had  nothing  to  find  fault  with,  and  only 
trumped  up  lame  and  unreasonable  charges  against  men  and 
women  of  means,  in  order  that  they  might  be  condemned  for 
treason,  and  their  property  confiscated  by  the  government,  and  the 
Catholic  Church  of  Spain.  Romanism  is  a  monstrosity.  It  is 
inconceivable  in  extent,  in  purpose,  and  in  plan,  because  it  is  the 
creation  of  that  being  cast  dowh  from  heaven  to  hell,  and  doing 
his  utmost  to  capture  the  race,  and  whelm  it  in  ruin. 

Romanism  is  a  diabolical  plot.  By  its  aid,  millions  on  mil- 
lions have  been  ruined,  and  millions  more  are  on  the  way.  Noth- 
ing but  the  gospel  of  Christ  can  save  them.  Every  surrender  to 
Rome  injures  them.  The  truth  alone  can  redeem  them.  As  a 
system  of  error,  Romanism  is  more  to  Satan  than  is  Mohammed- 
anism, Brahmanism,  or  any  other  of  the  great  systems  of  error 
that  have  found  on  this  earth  a  theatre  for  operation,  and  in  the 
soul  of  man  a  place  for  habitation.  Rome  stays  longer.  It  holds 
a  larger  place  in  prophecy.  It  has  in  it  more  brain,  more  skill, 
more  wit,  and  more  v\^isdom.  In  the  service  of  Rome,  at  this  hour, 
are  some  of  the  mightiest  intellects  of  the  race.  Pity  it  is  that  it 
is  true.  To  Macaulay  it  was  a  mystery  that  a  man  who  had 
balanced  worlds,  and  weighed  them,  that  wias  familiar  with 
science  and  literature,  could  starve  and  dwarf  his  soul  so  as  to 
make  a  god  out  of  a  wafer  which  he  could  eat,  and  which  a  rat 
could  eat  as  well.  God  is  angry  with  men  because  of  this.  Stu- 
pidity is  not  innocence.  God  says,  "If  ye  will  not  harken  to  me, 
to  walk  in  my  law,  which  I  have  set  before  you,  then  will  I  make 
this  house  like  Shiloh,  and  will  make  this  city  a  desolation." 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  341 

To  the  individual  and  to  the  city  or  country  that  bows  do\Yn 
to  Rome,  there  is  peril.  Though  the  peril  of  this  surrender  has 
been  put  into  language,  Satan  closes  the  ears  and  blinds  the  eyes. 
Though  it  is  known  that  popery  has  made  Rome  a  den  of  shame, 
and  Italy  the  home  of  paupers,  yet  thousands  welcome  it  here, 
though  they  are  aware  that  it  is  contributing  more  to  the  decay  of 
religious  and  even  political  ethics  than  any  other  combination 
organized  in  the  history  of  the  human  race. 

To  worship  the  beast,  is  to  stand  with  the  supporters  of 
Rome.  Men  cannot  serve  God  and  Baal.  Recently  this  language 
was  used  by  one  who  ought  to  have  known  better,  and  ought  to 
have  done  better :  "It  is  said  that  there  are  among  us  those  who 
are  alien  in  religious  thought  and  feeling,  and  purpose  and  cor- 
porate action,  who  are  aiming  a  blow  at  the  foundation  of  our  in- 
stitutions and  our  civilization,  by  striking  at  the  public  school 
system.  /  have  no  religions  prejudices,''  said  this  distinguished 
divine.  "No  religious  prejudices!"  Does  he  mean  by  this  that 
those  who  fight  Rome  are  ruled  by  prejudice f  Prejudice  is  an 
opinion  formed  without  due  knowledge.  This  man  stultifies 
himself,  for  he  says,  *T  recognize  its  beneficent  service  to  human- 
ity during  the  Middle  Ages."  That  would  have  the  appearance 
of  being  a  religious  prejudice  of  the  most  baneful  kind.  What 
service  did  Rome  render  to  humanity  in  the  Middle  Ages?  By 
persecution,  by  fire  and  fagot,  by  casting  God's  children  into  boil- 
ing vats  of  oil,  by  throwing  others  over  the  precipice,  by  putting 
to  death  millions  of  the  lovers  of  Christ  Rome  extinguished  the 
lights  of  Christianity,  and  then  sank  into  such  depths  of  shame 
that  by  universal  consent  the  times  in  which  her  rule  prevailed  are 
called  the  Dark  Ages. 


342         NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

In  Piedmont  in  i  i6o,  th«  Waldenses  found  a  home.  Though 
they  were  harmless  in  their  behavior,  inoffensive  in  their  conver- 
sation, and  paid  tithes  to  the  Romish  clergy,  yet  the  latter  could 
not  be  contented,  but  wished  to  give  them  some  disturbance. 
They  accordingly  complained  to  the  Archbishop  of  Turin  that  the 
Waldenses  of  the  valley  of  Piedmont  were  heretics,  for  these 
reasons : 

1.  That  they  did  not  believe  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

2.  That  they  made  no  offerings  for  prayers  for  the  dead. 

3.  That  they  did  not  go  to  mass. 

4.  That  they  did  not  confess,  and  receive  absolution. 

5.  That  they  did  not  believe  in  purgatory,  or  pay  money  to 
get  the  souls  of  their  friends  out  of  it. 

Upon  these  charges,  the  archbishop  ordered  a  persecution 
to  be  commenced,  and  thousands  and  thousands  were  slain.  Rome 
had  religious  prejudices,  and  acted  on  them,  and  blood  ran  in 
streams  through  the  valley  of  Piedmont.  At  length  they  flew*  to 
arms  and  resisted  the  invaders.  After  this,  the  Nuncio  of  the 
Pope  called  on  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  a  Papist,  and  told 
him  he  was  surprised  that  Protestantism  had  not  been  rooted  out 
of  Piedmont,  that  he  could  not  help  looking  upon  such  conduct 
with  a  suspicious  eye,  and  that  he  really  thought  him  a  favorer 
of  the  heretics,  and  should  report  the  affair  accordingly  to  His 
Ploliness  the  Pope.  Stung  by  this  reflection,  and  unwilling  to  be 
misrepresented  to  the  Pope,  the  duke  issued  express  orders  for 
all  the  Waldenses  to  attend  mass  regularly  on  pain  of  death.  This 
they  refused  to  do,  on  which  he  entered  the  Piedmontese  valley 
with  a  formidable  body  of  troops,  and  began  a  most  furious  per- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  343 

secutioii,  in  which  great  numbers  were  hanged,  drowned,  ripped 
open,  burned,  stabbed,  racked  to  death,  tied  to  trees,  and  pierced 
with  prongs,  thrown  from  precipices,  crucified  with  their  heads 
downwards,  worried  by  dogs,  etc.  Those  who  fled  had  their 
goods  plundered,  and  their  houses  burnt  to  the  ground. 

They  were  particularly  cruel  when  they  caught  a  minister 
or  a  schoolmaster,  whom  they  put  to  such  exquisite  tortures  as 
are  almost  incredible  to  conceive.  The  Roman  Catholic  inhabit- 
ants of  the  valley  of  St.  Martin  likewise  did  all  they  could  to  vex 
and  torment  the  neighboring  Waldenses;  they  destroyed  their 
churches,  burned  their  houses,  seized  their  properties,  stole  their 
cattle,  converted  their  land  to  their  own  use,  committed  their 
ministers  to  the  flames,  and  drove  the  Waldenses  to  the  woods, 
where  they  had  nothing  to  subsist  on  but  wild  fruits  and  the  bark 

of  trees. 

Turn  to  Ireland, 

and  gain  a  conception  of  the  "beneficent  ministry  of  Rome"  by, 
looking  at  some  scenes  in  the  Irish  massacre. 

Though  the  various  attempts  made  by  the  Irish  against  the 
English  usually  go  under  the  name  of  rebellion,  yet  they  deserve 
more  properly  the  epithet  persecution,  as  all  their  destructive 
efforts  were  particularly  levelled  at  the  Protestants  only,  whom 
they  were  determined,  if  possible,  totally  to  extirpate  from  the 
kingdom.  In  1641  came  the  O'Neal  conspiracy,  in  which  it  was 
planned  to  murder  every  Protestant  in  Ireland.  The  day  fixed 
was  Octo'ber  23,  1641,  the  feast  of  Ignatius  Loyola.  Men  and 
women  were  put  to  every  form  of  cruelty  which  the  devilish  in- 
genuity of  man  could  devise.  In  the  Castle  of  Lisgool,  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men,  women  and  children  wiere  burned  together. 


Men,  Women  and  Children  being  tortured  for  refusing  to  have 
a  Catholic  Priest  christen  their  children. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.         S46 


At  the  Castle  of  IMoneah,  not  less  than  one  hundred  were  put  to 
death  by  the  sword.  Some  of  them  were  laid  with  the  center  of 
their  backs  on  the  axletree  of  a  carriage,  with  their  legs  resting 
on  the  ground  on  one  side,  and  their  arms  and  heads  on  the  other. 
In  this  position  one  of  the  savages  scourged  the  wretched  object 
on  the  thighs,  legs,  etc.,  while  another  set  on  furious  dogs,  who 
tore  to  pieces  the  arms  and  upper  parts  of  the  body,  and  in  this 
dreadful  manner  were  they  deprived  of  their  existence. 

Great  numbers  were  fastened  to  horses'  tails,  and  the  beasts 
being  set  on  full  gallop  by  their  riders,  the  wretched  victims  were 
dragged  along  until  they  expired.  Others  were  hung  on  lofty 
gibbets,  and  a  fire  being  kindled  under  them,  they  finished  their 
lives  partly  by  hanging  and  partly  by  suffocation.  Nor  did  the 
more  tender  sex  escape  the  least  particle  of  cruelty  that  could  be 
projected  by  their  merciless  and  furious  persecutors.  Many  women 
of  all  ages  were  put  to  deaths  of  the  most  cruel  nature.  Some, 
in  particular,  were  fastened  with  their  backs  to  strong  posts,  and, 
being  stripped  to  their  waists,  the  inhuman  monsters  cut  off  their, 
right  breasts  with  shears,  which,  of  course,  put  them  to  the  most 
excruciating  torments,  and  in  this  position  they  were  left  till,  from 
loss  of  blood,  they  expired. 

Such  was  the  savage  ferocity  of  these  Romanists,  that  even 
unborn  infants  were  dragged  from  the  womb  to  become  victims 
to  their  rage.  Many  unhappy  mothers,  who  were  near  the  time 
of  their  delivery,  were  hung  naked  on  the  branches  of  trees,  and, 
their  bodies  being  cut  open,  the  innocent  offspring  were  taken 
from  them  and  thrown  to  dogs  and  swine.  And  to  increase  the 
horrid  scene,  they  would  oblige  the  husband  to  be  a  spectator 
before  this  terrible  barbarity  to  his  innocent  wife  and  his  unborn 
offspring.  V 


346  NINETEENTH  CENTUKY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Men  who  drink,  and  want  some  kind  of  a  religion,  can  join 
Rome.  A  drunkard  can  bow  down  at  one  end  of  the  Church,  and  be 
ministered  unto  by  a  drunkard  at  the  altar.  If  one  goes  to  heaven, 
the  other  \\i\\,  and  so  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  and  both  shall  fall 
into  the  ditch  of  destruction  at  last.  The  beastly  has  rule.  A  man 
who  trifles  with  virtue  finds  a  congenial  home  in  the  Church  of 
Rome.  Says  one  who  was  once  with  them,  "The  sober  American 
people  will  scarcely  beUeve  what  I  have  to  say  about  the  intemper- 
ance of  the  priests,  although  I  shall  not  say  all  the  truth.  They 
feast  almost  daily;  they  drink  to  excess;  they  gamble;  and  when 
their  money  is  gone,  they  gamble  their  masses.  The  winner  says 
to  the  loser,  'You  w^iU  say  ten,  twenty  masses  for  me.'  He  there- 
fore keeps  for  himself  the  money  he  has  received  from  some  de- 
luded woman,  and  the  loser  has  to  say  them.  Priests  call  their 
days  of  revelling  after  some  notable  battle.  Empty  bottles  they 
call  corpses.  They  often  quarrel  on  their  Marengo  or  Austerlitz 
day  when  drunk,  and  roll  among  their  bottles  in  utter  helpless- 
ness." 

God  holds  the  American  people  responsible  for  flattering 
wrong-doing.  They  know  better,  or  might  know  better.  "If 
any  man  worship  the  beast,  he  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath 
of  God.  "If  it  curses  to  worship  the  beast  and  to  become  beastly, 
it  blesses  to  worship  Christ,  and  to  become  Christly.  As  the  for- 
mer Christians  of  Egypt,  who  at  the  peril  of  their  lives  penetrated 
into  the  temples  of  idolatry,  searched  in  the  bosom  of  a  gloomy 
sanctuary  for  the  pretended  divinity  offered  by  the  priesthood  to 
the  worship  of  a  deceived  people,  and  carried  to  the  light,  instead 
of  the  god  the  ignorant  imagined  was  within,  the  horrible  mon- 
ster they  found,,  and  held  it  up  to  them,  pointing  them  to  Christ ; 


NlNETEENril  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  347 


SO  1st  Christians  draw  from  the  darkness  the  idol  of  popery,  and, 
showing  it  to  mankind,  shout  with  a  voice  which  shall  ring 
throughout  the  land,  "We  give  thee  thanks,  O  Lord  God  Al- 
mighty, which  art,  and  wast,  and  art  to  come;  because  thou  hast 
taken  to  thee  thy  great  power,  and  hast  reigned." 

God  inhabits  the  truth.  To  stand  with  God  is  the  highest 
wisdom.  Whoever  does  that  is  identified  with  all  that  is  ennobl- 
ing, helpful,  life-giving,  in  the  universe.  Liberty,  soul  liberty, 
liberty  to  grow,  to  believe  the  truth,  to  reject  error,  finds  in  God 
its  author.  Civilizations  are  the  product  of  the  seed-sowing  of 
truth. 

There  are  battles  being  fought  above  us.  The  battle  of 
Lookout  Mountain  was  fought  above  the  clouds  by  men  who  were 
trained  on  the  earth. 

The  Battle  noiv  raging  above 

Is  being  fought  by  the  angels  of  God  and  by  the  minions  of 
Satan.  It  is  our  privilege  to  stand  with  the  angels  of  God,  and  to 
share  in  the  shout  of  a  universal  victory  when  it  comes,  as  come 
it  will.    Then  the  earth  will  be  lightened  with  the  glory  of  God. 

To-day  the  v/orld's  need  is  a  man  that  will  not  surrender  to 
Rome.  Can  we  say  that  in  all  the  land  such  a  man  has  appeared  ? 
The  age  waits  for  him.  How  few  knights-errant  there  are  ready 
to  ride  out  into  the  field  and  level  their  lances  at  Rome,  and  in 
the  eye  of  the  world  fight  for  God  and  the  right. 

In  contrast  with  the  Presbyterian  divine  praising  the  "be- 
neficent ministry  of  Rome,"  read  these  words  of  L.  K.  Wash- 
burn, in  a  speech  delivered  in  Boston,  Mass.    He  says  : 

*'We  mav  as  well  face  the  fact  that  the  Catholic  Church  in- 


348  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

tends  to  educate  her  own  children,  and  to  educate  them  to  suit 
herself.  The  fear  that  the  influence  of  popular  education  upon 
the  mind  of  the  Catholic  youth  vvould  be  fatal  to  the  authority  of 
the  priesthood,  has  been  realized,  and  the  Catholic  parent  has  been 
urged  to  support  the  parochial  school,  and  threatened  to  the  ex- 
tent of  ecclesiastical  punishment  if  he  refused. 

"Catholicism  has  reached  its  crucial  period,  and  it  has 
acknowledged  that  it  cannot  contend  in  the  open  arena  of  the 
intellect  with  the  forces  of  modern  civilization.  In  a  few  years 
the  Church  would  become  a  thing  of  the  past,  were  the  educating 
and  emancipating  power  of  scientific  knowledge  and  liberal  ideas 
allowed  to  influence  the  mind.  There  is  but  one  purpose  in 
establishing  separate  schools  for  Catholic  children,  and  that 
is,  to  make  Catholics.  It  is  not  to  give  the  child  a  better  educa- 
tion, to  teach  what  cannot  be  had  in  the  public  school,  that  the 
already  heavily  taxed  parents  are  commanded  to  contribute 
towards  the  maintenance  of  parochial  schools,  but  that  the  priest 
may  have  the  power  to  mould  the  mind  of  the  child  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church. 

"Can  we  afford  to  have  in  this  State,  or  in  this  country,  an 
ecclesiastical  education  that  is  directly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of 
our  government,  that  makes  war  upon  our  free  institutions?  It 
seems  to  me  that  every  man  w:ho  lives  in  the  United  States  should 
be  first  an  American  citizen;  that  he  should  be  concerned  first  in 
those  things  that  will  make  his  country  prosperous,  and  that  will 
secure  to  his  children  the  blessings  of  liberty  which  he  enjoys. 

"The  establishment  of  Catholic  schools  does  not  mean  the 
desire  for  a  better  or  higher  education.  Catholicism  does  not 
rest  upon  enlightenment;    it  does  not   flourish  where   there  is 


KIXETEEXTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  349 

knowledge;  it  does  not  conquer  where  there  is  freedom.  This 
ecclesiastical  vampire  has  fastened  to  our  nation,  to  suck  its  life- 
blood,  and  to  fatten  upon  the  growth  of  our  land. 

"Dr.  McGlynn  tells  the  truth  wihen  he  says,  'It  is  not  risking 
too  much  to  say,  that  if  there  were  no  public  schools  there  would 
be  very  few  parochial  schools,  and  the  Catholic  children,  for  all  the 
churchmen  would  do  for  them,  would  grow  up  in  brutish  ignor- 
ance of  letters.* 

"It  might  be  queried  whether  a  priest  would  tell  the  truth 
about  Catholicism,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  would — after  he 
had  quit  the  Church.  The  question  whether  attendance  at  a 
parochial  school  will  answer  the  requirements  of  the  statute 
respecting  compulsory  education,  needs  to  be  answered.  Whether 
all  supervision  of  these  Catholic  schools  is  to  be  left  to  the  Church 
is  another  matter  to  be  decided.  If  it  is,  we  may  rest  assured  that 
no  education  that  will  make  the  pupil  more  than  a  good  Catholic 
will  be  permitted. 

"The  State  should  say  to  every  citizen  within  her  borders : 
*If  you  cannot  support  our  public  institutions,  you  had  better 
emigrate.'  I  do  not  believe  that  this  government  was  founded 
to  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  political  or  religious 
liberty.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  United  States  can  afford  to  in- 
vest in  any  more  population  that  cannot  read  or  write,  and  I  do 
not  believe  that  any  organization  that  is  opposed  to  the  education 
received  in  our  public  schools,  has  any  business  in  this  country. 

"We  do  not  need,  and  we  do  not  want  people  here  who  de- 
mand the  liberty  to  establish  a  despotism.  We  have  no  room  for  a 
Church  that  is  afraid  of  knowledge,  that  declares  that  the  secular 
schools  of  the  United  States  'cannot  be  frequented  with  a  safe 
conscience,'  that  they  are  full  of  'deadly  peril' 


All  the  Agonies  of  the  Inquisition  practiced  by  Catholicisax 
in  tlie  Niueteeutli  Century, 


mNETEENTlI  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  351 

"I  agree  fully  with  Mr.  Carrigan  of  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. He  says,  'Our  institutions  are  purely  American,  and 
those  who  object  to  them  we  can  well  afford  to  lose.'  But  the 
difficulty  is,  you  cannot  get  rid  of  them.  Archbishop  Williams, 
in  an  address  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  a  short  time  ago,  urged 
them  to  'establish  Catholic  schools  in  every  parish.'  He  should 
have  urged  them  to  see  that  their  parishioners  sent  their  children 
to  some  school,  and  saved  the  State  from  the  disgrace  of  having 
a  hundred  and  twenty-one  thousand  persons  ten  years  of  age  and 
over  who  are  unable  to  read  and  write.  It  is  a  fact  that  nearly 
the  whole  nine  thousand  persons  in  Fall  River  who  are  'unable 
to  read  and  write  in  any  language'  are  Catholics,  or  children  of 
Catholic  parents. 

"The  Catholic  Church  know^s  that  the  effect  of  education  is 
to  make  man  independent  of  priestly  control.  For  this  Church 
to  educate  her  subjects,  in  any  fair  sense  of  the  wprd,  would  be 
to  commit  suicide.  The  Catholic  school  is  simply  a  device  to  keep 
education  away  from  the  mind  of  the  child. 

"Catholicism  has  expressed  its  fear  of  popular  education  and 
popular  knowledge.  It  has  acknowledged,  that,  if  it  keeps  up  with 
civilization,  it  must  leave  behind  its  theology.  It  knows  that 
science  is  its  executioner.  Every  natural  fact  is  a  witness  against 
it.  It  has  no  hope,  only  in  prolonging  darkness.  It  dies  at  the 
sunrise  of  truth  in  the  soul.  The  whole  stock  in  trade  of  Roman- 
ism is  superstition.  It  has  nothing  else  to  preach,  nothing  else 
to  teach.  It  is  a  dead  religion,  and  fitly  reads  its  prayers  in  a  dead 
language.  Instead  of  letting  in  the  light  of  the  future,  it  shuts 
out  the  light  of  the  present.  None  of  its  products  are  worthy  of 
this  age.  Its  dogmas,  instead  of  being  guideboards  on  the  road 
of  life;  arc  only  scarecrows. 


S52  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


"One  teacher  is  vvurth  a  thousand  priests,  one  wife  and 
mother,  a  thousand  nuns;  one  husband  and  father,  a  thousand 
monks;  and  one  man^  a  thousand  Cathohcs.  Catholicism  makes 
a  pretentious  use  of  the  word  'morality'  to-day,  and  lays  particu- 
lar emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  moral  education  for  the  young. 
The  moral  trimming  on  the  religious  gown  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  very  scant  and  narrow.  There  are  nine  parts  of  the- 
ology to  one  part  of  morality  in  its  creed. 

"I  cannot  believe  that  this  age  is  to  be  turned  backward,  that 
what  has  been  done  for  freedom  is  to  be  undone,  that  all  that  the 
world  is  wjorking  for  is  never  to  be  realized.  Man  stands  to-day 
at  the  wheel  of  liberty.  His  hand  is  on  the  plough  of  reform. 
His  foot  is  on  the  stair  of  progress.  In  his  grasp  he  carries  the 
banner  of  hope;  and  he  goes  forward,  not  to  be  nailed  to  the 
cross  of  defeat,  but  to  win  for  his  brow  the  crown  of  victory. 

"I  believe  in  this  country,  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  in  every  amendment 
to  the  Constitution.  I  believe  in  free  thought,  free  speech,  and  a 
free  press;  and  I  never  want  to  see  any  power  in  this  land  that 
shall  forbid  the  mind  to  think,  the  lips  to  speak,  or  that  shall  con- 
trol the  newspapers — this  product  of  the  nineteenth  century — in 
the  interest  of  the  priestcraft." 

These  words  denote  the  ground-swell  for  freedom.  The 
wave  will  rise  higher  and  higher,  until  Romanism  shall  be  sub- 
merged, and  her  people  carried  to  the  tableland  of  a  new  era, 
where  education  and  enlightenment  shall  become  the  inheritance 
und  the  watchword  of  her  people. 

Rome  plots  the  breaking-up  of  the  British  Empire.  Cardinal 
Manning  boldly  avoWs  this  purpose.     "We  have,"  said  he,  "to 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  353 

break  or  bend  that  will  which  nations  have  found  invincible  and 
inflexible."  Were  England,  the  stronghold  of  Protestantism, 
overthrown,  Protestantism,  says  Cardinal  Manning,  would  be 
conquered  throughout  the  world.  The  fight  in  Ireland  against 
England  means  Popery  against  religion.  It  declares  that  the 
Pope  has  found  in  Ireland  a  fulcrum  on  which  to  plant  the  lever 
of  his  hellish  intent  to  subvert  the  altar  of  hope  for  humanity. 
Romanism  in  England  and  in  America  must  be  crippled,  and  held 
and  restrained,  that  there  may  be  progress. 

Religious  liberty  is  now  to  be  discussed  through  all  its 
moods  and  tenses.  There  is  a  difference  between  religious  and 
devilish  liberty,  between  a  liberty  to  do  right  and  a  liberty  to  do 
wrong.  Religious  liberty  is  the  pennant  which  flies  from  the 
mast-head  of  the  Ship  of  State  as  it  sails  out  upon  the  sea  of  a 
world's  troubled  life — liberty  to  worship  God,  not  to  serve  the 
Devil;  liberty  to  be  true,  not  false. 

The  Pope  as  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican  seeks  deliverance, 
and  claims  that  the  Holy  See  ought  to  be  independent  of  what- 
ever terrestrial  authority,  that  the  Church  is  a  divine  institution, 
and  that  to  try  to  reduce  its  interest  to  a  question  of  the  laws 
of  Italy  can  only  be  the  result  of  most  deplorable  blindness.  Op- 
posed to  him  is  the  free  spirit  of  the  world.  Let  the  good  and 
true  of  all  parties,  who  love  their  God  and  Bibles  and  country, 
and  upon  whose  strong  arm  and  bold  heart  rests  the  question, 
whether  humanity  shall  be  free  to  worship  God,  or  become  the 
slave  of  the  Pope — determine  that  the  Scriptures  shall  be  cir- 
culated, that  the  press  shall  be  kept  unmuzzled,  that  the  pulpit 
and  the  school  shall  be  free,  so  that  the  spiritual  may  be  trained 
and  fitted  to  be  the  dome  of  the  mental  and  physical  and  spiritual 

f23) 


'M         MIHETEBNTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

nature.  Then  shall  the  old  refrain  of  "Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  peace  on  earth,  and  good-will  to  men,"  be  sung  again, 
as  darkness  disappears,  and  the  sun  of  truth  is  unveiled  to  our 
eyes. 

Rome  is  ready  for  the  death-grapple.  Are  the  lovers  of 
God  ready?  If  not,  then  get  ready.  They  have  not  a  moment 
to  lose.  There  is  peril  in  betraying  truth.  There  is  safety  and 
happiness  in  proclaiming  it.  In  the  olden  times  men  fought 
their  great  naval  battles  on  the  sea,  while  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, from  the  rocky  heights  of  the  shore  above  them,  gazed 
down  upon  them.  They  fought  under  their  eye.  If  their  courage 
failed,  they  looked  above  and  were  made  strong.  To-day 
heaven's  ramparts  are  crowded  with  w'itnesses  of  what  we  do 
and  of  what  we  seek  to  achieve.  In  their  center  is  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  cloud  of  witnesses.  Let  us  play  the  part  of  men,  and 
be  true,  and  we  shall  have  the  help  of  God  and  the  blessing  of  the 
true  and  the  noble  of  the  earth. 


10 

3 

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3 

Of 

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3 

to 

H 


Chapter  XXI. 


American  Officials  to  Blame  for  the  Presumption 
of  Romanism  in  the  United  States. 


Is  the  United  States  a  Protestant  or  a  Catholic  nation  ?  This 
is  the  question  that  confronts  the  American  people  to-day.  If  it 
is  a  Catholic  nation,  and  controlled  by  the  powers  from  the  Vati- 
can, then  our  hands  are  tied  and  we  can  look  forward  to  nothing 
but  despair  and  papal  bondage  for  our  children,  but  if  it  is  a 
Protestant  country,  then  why  should  the  officials  whom  we  elect 
cater  to  Pontifical  power?  We  expect  to  treat  this  subject  in  an 
open,  explicit  manner,  and  ask  God  to  give  us  the  courage  to 
present  facts  in  no  uncertain  way,  as  our  object  in  life  is  to  arouse 
sleepy,  drowsy  Protestants  to  a  realization  of  the  bondage  that  our 
officials  are  yearly  placing  us  under.  Where  does  the  officeholder 
derive  his  right  to  vote  public  moneys  for  the  benefit  of  private 
and  Pontifical  individuals?  Why  should  the  President  of  the 
United  States  hold  secret  conferences  with  a  representative  of  the 
Vatican  and  treat  with  Popish  power  the  same  as  he  would  with 
a  minister  of  some  foreign  power?    Democrats  and  Republicans 


358  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


lay  aside  their  own  conscience  and  cater  to  Catholicism  in  order 
to  strengthen  their  political  fences,  not  caring  a  whit  for  the  in- 
terests of  their  constituents  just  so  they  are  permitted  to  pluck  the 
political  job  that  promises  a  remuneration  for  their  services,  not 
thinking  or  caring  whether  the  interests  of  taxpayers  are  properly 
guarded  or  not.  Suppose  that  the  Pope  and  his  horde  of  blear- 
eyed  foreign  priests  knew  that  the  officials  of  this  country  were 
true,  God-loving  Protestants,  worthy  of  the  name  of  Protestant, 
do  you  think  they  would  have  the  courage  and  audacity  to  ap- 
proach them  with  a  demand  for  their  support  in  railroading  some 
bill  through  a  State  Legislature,  or  Congress  to  give  the  powers 
of  Romanism  a  foothold  on  the  shores  of  this  country?  Never, 
the  Catholic  dignitaries  are  as  afraid  of  a  piwe  Christian  Protest- 
ant as  they  are  of  the  true  teachings  of  the  Gospel.  Americans, 
do  you  not  think  you  have  silently  given  your  consent  to  Roman- 
ism long  enough  ?  Suppose  from  this  day  forward  you  scrutinize 
your  ballot  before  casting  it,  and  if  you  have  reasons  to  believe 
that  there  is  any  one  on  your  ticket  that  is  tainted  with  the 
"scarlet  beast"  drop  him  as  though  your  existence  depended  upon 
it.  Be  a  Protestant  and  not  a  sore-headed  politician.  How  much 
.have  you  ever  gained  by  being  a  Republican  or  a  Democrat?  I 
will  tell  you — you  have  done  the  hallooing  and  the  official  has 
lived  upon  the  "fat  of  the  land,"  and  did  not  give  a  fig  for  neither 
you  nor  your  interests.  It  matters  not  what  the  office  may  be 
that  is  to  be  filled,  find  out  whether  the  applicant  is  a  Protestant 
or  a  Catholic,  and  whether  he  is  untrammeled  from  the  influences 
of  Catholicism,  and  do  not  take  him  behind  the  door  or  some 
secret  place  to  ask  him.  Wait  until  he  takes  the  platform,  and 
then  demand  to  know  whether  he  is  or  is  not  a  Protestant,    A  man 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  359 

that  is  afraid  to  define  his  principles  in  public  is  a  man  to  be 
watched  as  you  would  a  thief. 

Take  our  American  cities  as  an  example  of  political  intrigue 
and  you  will  find  that  both  the  Republicans  and  Democrats  are 
made  out  of  the  same  material  Wlien  it  comes  to  catering  to 
Catholicism  for  votes,  as  the  aspiring  office-seeker  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  lays  aside  his  principles  and  that  of  his  father  and 
mother  and  winks  with  favor  upon  all  the  overtures  made  by 
Catholicism,  and  will  secretly  meet'  Catholic  officials  and  enter 
into  a  secret  compact  that  should  he  be  elected  that  he  will  ap- 
point to  lucrative  and  important  places  those  whom  the  Catholic 
Church  may  mention.  That  the  reader  may  know  what  element 
controls  municipal  governments,  we  desire  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  over  one-half  of  the  officials  of  all  of  our  large  American 
cities  are  representatives  of  the  Vatican,  and  that  tw^o-thirds  of 
all  policemen  of  these  cities  are  of  the  same  stripe.  Answer  me 
why  this  state  of  affairs  exist?  You  say  you  can't  do  it.  Well, 
I'll  tell  you.  It  is  on  account  of  you  yourself.  Yes,  I  say  you, 
the  voters  of  this  great  and  grand  country,  which  we  boast  of 
being  the  land  of  freedom.  You  may  not  be  able  to  reason  it  out 
that  it  is  your  fault,  but  if  you  will  stop  for  one  moment  and  real- 
ize that  when  the  time  comes  to  elect  a  mayor  of  a  city,  the  can- 
didate which  has  the  greater  chance  of  election  is  being  courted  by 
every  element  of  society  and  Catholicism  has  no  politics  when  it 
is  reduced  to  selecting  and  choosing  a  candidate  whom  they  can 
control,  for  they  are  like  the  chameleon,  as  their  color  changes  to 
suit  the  object  they  come  in  contact  with  if  that  object  can  be 
made  to  serve  their  purpose.  If  they  can  extract  a  promise  from  a 
Republican  candidate,  they  are  Republicans,  if  they  can  make  a 


360  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM. 


Democratic  candidate  do  their  bidding,  they  are  Democrats,  if 
they  can  "tickle"  into  submission  the  Populist,  they  are  Populists; 
in  fact,  they  are  anything  that  will  serve  their  purpose  and  help 
to  bind  and  throttle  Protestant  principles.     As  we  said  before, 
the  candidate  for  the  mayoralty  of  a  city  that  has  the  greatest 
chance  of  election  is  the  Catholic's  candidate,  provided  he  does 
not  publicly  announce  that  he  is  a  Protestant  and  opposed  to 
Catholicism,  and  this  is  exactly  the  very  thing  that  the  Protest- 
ants want  to  force  their  candidates  to  do  from  this  on,  and  if  they 
fail  to  do  it,  get  up  an  independent  candidate  and  beat  the  other 
one  if  you  do  yourselves  go  down  to  defeat,  for  it  is  much  better 
to  go  down  to  defeat  with  American  principles  spiked  to  your 
banner  than  to  ride  into  a  successful  port  with  a  standard-bearer 
wiho  the  Devil  won't  trust,  and  God  despises  and  man  abhors.    I 
say,  go  down  to  defeat  and  let  the  Catholics  elect  their  own  can- 
didate, and  the  Protestant  element  will  soon  be  so  disgusted  with 
their  Papal  and  ungodly  administration  that  by  the  next  time  an 
election  rolls  around  Protestantism  will  put  forth  a  solid  front, 
and  will  march  to  victory  with  a  candidate  who  has  declared  he 
was  an  American  with  no  "strings"  and  secret  chains  binding  him 
to  the  Vatican.    Don't  stop  with  the  mayor  of  your  cities,  but  go 
up  the  line  from  road  supervisor  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States.    The  writer. is  human,  and  of  course  has  a  preference  of 
political  parties,  but  wish  to  say  that  I  am  not  a  Cleveland  Demo- 
crat, for  while  President  he  made  a  specialty  of  recommending 
legislation  that  would  vote  money  for  the  use  of  Catholic  schools 
which  educated  every  day  in  the  year  against  all  that  is  Protestant 
and  American.    I  am  not  a  McKinley  Republican,  because  he  was 
tied  too  completely  to  the  cords  of  Bishop  Ireland's  gown  during 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  361 


the  Spanish- American  war.  Oh,  no,  not  a  McKinley  Republican. 
And  I  am  not  a  Bryan  Populist,  or  Democrat,  because  in  the  Con- 
gressional records  to-day  at  Washington  he  is  recorded  as  voting 
not  to  teach  English  in  the  schools  of  one  of  our  territories,  which 
was  just  to  the  liking  of  Catholicism,  and  which  was  a  Catholic 
measure.  Oh,  no,  never  a  Bryan  man.  Never  will  I  halloo  or 
toss  my  hat  for  Cleveland,  McKinley  or  Bryan.  How  could  I  or 
any  other  true  Protestant- American  ?  But  up  goes  my  hat  for 
any  "true  blue"  Protestant-American,  I  don't  care  on  what  ticket 
he  runs.  Protestants,  in  1900  let's  not  cast  our  ballot  for  any  man 
for  President  unless  he  is  an  American,  and  so  declare  it.  What 
I  mean  by  being  an  American  is  that  he  has  "sand  enough  in  his 
gizzard"  to  say  I  am  a  Protestant  first,  last  and  all  the  time. 


Chapter  XXII. 


Where  Strikes  and  Public  Disturbances  Arise, 
and  by  Whom  Engendered. 


Strikes  are  evils  when  engendered  and  controlled  by  selfish 
and  evil-minded  men.  Strikes  are  often  a  necessity,  for  many 
times  the  interest  of  the  laborer  is  ruthlessly  trodden  underfoot 
by  men  of  means  and  influence,  simply  to  increase  their  own 
income  regardless  of  the  suffering  and  misery  it  may  cause 
others.  We  do  not  intend  to  allude  to  honestly  deserved  strikes 
in  this  chapter,  for  our  intentions  are  to  only  mention  facts  that 
are  detrimental  to  good  government,  and  vicious  strikes  are  not 
American  strikes,  and  the  difficulties  of  honest,  true  men  who 
candidly  believe  they  have  a  grievance,  and  in  order  to  right  it 
suspend  work  until  the  difficulty  has  been  amicably  adjusted.  A 
good  illustration  of  vicious  strikes  is  the  numerous  strikes  and 
broils  that  appear  among  the  coal  miners  of  Pennsylvania  and 
other  Eastern  States,  and  some  Western  and  Southern  States  as 
well.. 


864  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF.  ROMANISM. 

The  difficulties  among  this  class  of  labor  is  most  generally 
started  by  a  vicious  class  of  foreigners  who  never  have  nor  never 
will  make  good  American  citizens ;  in  fact,  they  have  no  idea  of 
citizenship,  as  they  are  Italians,  Poles  and  from  other  nations 
which  are  controlled  by  Catholicism,  and  have  never  been  taught 
the  elements  of  true  citizenship.  Catholicism  knows  no  individ- 
uality, she  recognizes  no  rights  save  that  of  her  own  greedy,  sel- 
fish inclinations.  Citizenship  from  an  American  standpoint  is 
treason  in  the  eyes  of  Romish  doctrines. 

Reader,  did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  it  was  an  absolute 
impossibility  for  a  Catholic  who  devoutly  believes  in  all  the 
creed  and  superstitions  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  make  a  true 
patriotic  American  citizen?  This  may  appear  to  you  to  be  a 
very  broad  assertion  and  one  that  you  may  have  your  doubts 
whether  we  can  substantiate.  If  we  fail  to  make  this  point  clear 
to  your  mind  we  will  not  ask  you  to  believe  it.  The  Catholic 
religion  is  founded* on  the  rock  of  superstition.  Why?  Because 
every  code  of  their  church  doctrine  teaches  that  the  Pope  is  in- 
fallible and  cannot  err  in  his  judgment,  which  is  an  absurd 
proposition,  for  if  you  believe  the  teadhings  of  the  Bible  you 
cannot  believe  that  any  man  has,  in  this  life  reached  a  state  of 
immortality,  and  if  the  Pope  cannot  err,  he  necessarily  must  be 
superhuman,  and  no  one  can  be  immortal  so  long  as  he  is  mortal, 
and  so  long  as  there  is  life  in  the  body  that  long  we  are  mortal 
and  liable  to  the  Adamic  sin  which  was  placed  upon  the  world 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden  at  the  fall  of  Adam  when  he  ate  the  for- 
bidden fruit.  Now,  if  the  Pope  is  infallible  and  immortal,  and 
every  action  of  his  is  pure,  and  if  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  err, 
then  the  priests  of  every  nation  are  infallible  and  just  as  pure  and 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  8«5 


immortal  as  he,  for  they  are  of  his  creation,  as  their  power  is 
not  originated  by  themselves,  but  comes  directly  and  solely  from 
the  Pope,  and  as  he  is  infallible  and  immortal  (as  all  Catholics 
claim)  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  create  anything  impure, 
and  as  the  priests  are  of  his  own  creation,  then  they  must  be  of 
the  same  composition  as  he,  consequently  the  only  logical 
deduction  that  any  intelligent  man  or  woman  can  arrive  at  (if 
Catholic  doctrines  be  true)  is  that  all  Catholic  priests  are  infalli- 
ble and  immortal,  therefore,  are  as  pure  as  the  Pope,  who  claims 
to  be  just  as  pure  as  God  himself. 

Again,  if  the  Pope  is  infallible  and  cannot  err,  necessarily 
the  priests  are  also,  and  if  both  be  pure  and  cannot  err,  then  the 
members  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  they  leave  the  confessional 
box  after  having  the  priest  pardon  their  sins  are  just  as  pure  as 
an  angel  in  heaven,  and  have  arrived  at  this  state  of  purity  with- 
out a  semblance  of  God. 

Now,  in  conclusion  of  wthat  we  claim  to  be  the  only  logical 
construction  that  can  be  placed  upon  the  claims  of  Catholicism, 
if  the  Pope  cannot  err,  it  is  impossible  for  the  priestcraft  to  err, 
as  they  are  the  handiwork  of  the  'Pope,  and  if  neither  can  err, 
then  they  have  just  as  much  power  to  save  a  soul  as  God  Al- 
mighty, and  any  intelligent  Protestant  can  see  at  a  glance  that 
when  you  educate  a  man  to  believe  that  he  can  be  saved  without 
a  living  God,  that  he  is  not  a  true  American  citizen,  for  it  is  im- 
possible to  be  true  to  his  coimtry  and  believe  at  the  same  time  that 
his  existence  on  earth  and  in  eternity  depends  upon  a  foreign 
decrepit  mortal  who  never  was  a  man  of  even  moderate  intelli- 
gence, compared  with  the  American  standard  of  intellectuality. 
If  it  is  impossible  for  a  foreign  born,  who  is  bound  to  the  Vatican 


S66         'NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


of  Rome  to  make  a  thorough  patriotic  citizen  of  America,  then 
we  can  trace,  and  lay  at  the  door  of  Catholicism  all  of  the  fer- 
mentation of  our  American  strikes  and  labor  agitations,  we  mean 
by  this,  among  common  labor,  such  as  coal  mining  and  other 
labor  that  is  performed  by  the  lower  class  of  foreigners.  Not 
only  can  you  saddle  upon  the  followers  of  Catholicism  this  dis- 
satisfied element,  but  the  vicious  and  dastardly  deeds  that  aston- 
ish the  world  during  these  strikes,  such  as  using  dynamite  and 
other  agencies  that  take  innocent  and  unprotected  human  lives. 
It  is  impossible  to  trace  any  of  these  diabolical  deeds  to  a  true 
patriotic  Protestant- American,  and  I  defy  any  man  living  to  fur- 
nish convicting  evidence  of  one  instance,  and  I  will  give  him  five 
years  to  make  out  his  case. 

Can  you  expect  more  of  a  class  of  people  who  have  never 
been  taught  anything  but  blind  and  idolatrous  superstition? 
Can  you  expect  more  of  a  class  of  men  who  believe  in  no  powter 
but  the  Pope  at  Rome,  and  acknowledge  no  one  as  having  the 
right  to  administer  justice  but  the  priestcraft?  They  know  no 
civil  government,  they  have  been  filled  full  of  abominable 
heathenish  doctrines  from  their  infancy,  and  taught  to  believe 
that  no  sin  is  so  grievous  or  terrible  but  what  the  parish  priest  has 
the  power  to  forgive. 

If  you  want  to  find  the  cause  of  any  and  all  strikes  which 
occur  among  the  lower  element,  you  can  trace  it  to  the  blind 
followers  of  Roman  Hierarchy.  An  American  strike  is  not  a 
strike,  it  is  simply  a  grievance  which  is  stated  by  the  employes 
to  their  employer  in  a  frank  and  straightforward  manner,  and 
then  if  it  cannot  be  peacefully  and  amicably  settled,  the  work- 
men walk  out  and  the  factory  shuts  down.    But  who  ever  heard 


■NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  U1 


01  'Americans  sacrificing  human  lives  and  destroying  property. 
Never,  never;  nor  you  never  will  so  long  as  the  spirit  of  free 
Protestant- American  manhood  does  not  become  contaminated  by 
the  insidious  doctrines  of  ''The  Beast  and  false  Prophet."  Who 
ever  heard  of  an  American-Protestant- Anarchist  ?  It  is  some- 
thing unknown.  Whenever  you  hear  of  an  anarchist,  follow 
the  thread  of  their  existence  and  it  will  lead  you  to  the  Vatican 
on  the  Tiber  with  her  polluted  and  vaulted  walls  reeking  with 
a  stench  that  paralyzes  morality,  strangles  free  government  and 
will  debase  and  lower  any  nation  upon  God's  universe. 

Someone  may  say,  "Oh,  you  are  too  rough,  you  are  to 
strong  in  your  language,"  etc.,  but  if  it  is  the  truth,  then  what? 
Certainly  the  truth  is  worth  telling  in  a  forceful  manner,  and  if 
it  is  not  the  truth  let  the  Catholic  world  call  me  down.  I  live, 
I  breathe,  I  exist,  I  can  be  found,  I  am  no  myth,  so  if  this  chap- 
ter is  false,  I  ask,  I  demand  a  contradiction,  yea,  I  defy  the  world 
to  successfully  deny  it.  I  believe  in  what  the  world  calls  strikes, 
but  not  an  anarchistic  strike.  I  say  Amen  to  a  deserved  strike, 
as  it  shows  American  manhood,  but  I  am  opposed  to  strikes  en- 
gendered by  the  lowest  scum  of  Catholicism,  in  fact,  of  the 
universe. 


to 


3 
CO 
>v 
V 


Chapter  XXIII. 


Republicanism  and  Democracy  Lashed  for  Cater» 
ing  to  Catholicism  for  Votes. 


Shame!  yea  eternal  shame  to  any  poHtical  party  for  so  far 
forgetting  themselves  as  to  wallow  in  the  mire  of  Catholic  pol- 
lution in  order  to  catch  their  votes.  Were  I  to  undertake  to  de- 
scribe the  rottenness  of  both  parties,  I  would  be  at  a  loss  to  know 
how  to  find  language  to  do  so,  as  Republicanism  is  at  all  times 
ready  to  embrace  the  pontifical  degenerates  at  any  and  all  times 
that  they  may  tenaciously  hang  on  to  the  public  teat,  and  Dem- 
ocracy stands  with  a  watering  mouth  eager  to  offer  the  powers 
of  the  Vatican  the  earth  and  the  fullness  thereof  if  they  will  aid 
them  in  fastening  themselves  upon  the  public  purse  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Not  one  Protestant  in  every  one  hundred  has  ever 
read  the  awfulness  of  the  "inquisition,"  and  that  each  American 
may  know  just  who  the  politician  is  catering  to  when  he  listens 
to  the  cunning  and  deceitful  chants  of  the  Pope  and  his  follow- 
ers, we  will  endeavor  to  give  our  readers  some  idea  of  the  inqui- 

C24) 


StO  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

sitlon,  and  what  is  to  follow  is  truth,  in  every  word  and  syllable, 
as  the  writer  has  for  years  haunted  libraries  and  crossed  the 
ocean  time  and  again  that  he  might  bring  it  vividly  before  the 
minds  of  the  Protestant- American  people. 

An  Account  of  the  Inquisition. 

When  the  reformed  religion  began  to  diffuse  the  gospel 
light  throughout  Europe,  Pope  Innocent  the  Third  entertained 
great  fear  for  the  Romish  church.  He  accordingly  instituted  a 
number  of  inquisitors,  or  persons  who  were  to  make  inquiry 
after,  apprehend  and  punish  heretics,  as  the  reformed  were 
called  by  the  papists. 

At  the  head  of  these  inquisitors  was  one  Dominic,  who  had 
been  canonized  by  the  pope,  in  order  to  render  his  authority  the 
more  respectable.  Dominic,  and  the  other  inquisitors,  spread 
themselves  into  various  Roman  Catholic  countries,  and  treated 
the  Protestants  with  the  utmost  severity.  In  process  of  time, 
the  pope,  not  finding  these  roving  inquisitors  so  useful  as  he 
had  imagined,  resolved  upon  the  establishment  of  fixed  and 
regular  courts  of  inquisition.  After  the  order  for  these  regular 
courts,  the  first  office  of  inquisition  was  established  in  the  city 
of  Thoulouse,  and  Dominic  became  the  first  regular  inquisitor, 
as  he  had  before  been  the  first  roving  inquisitor. 

Courts  of  inquisition  were  now  erectecLin  several  countries; 
but  the  Spanish  inquisition  became  the  most  powerful,  and  the 
most  dreaded  of  any.  Even  the  kings  of  Spain  themselves, 
though  arbitrary  in  all  other  respects,  were  taught  to  dread  the 
power  of  the  lords  of  the  inquisition;  and  the  horrid  cruelties 
they  exercised  compelled  multitudes,  who  differed  in  opinion 


NINBTEBNTII  CEXrURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  371 

from  the  Roman  Catholics,   carefully  to  conceal  their  seh,!- 
ments. 

The  most  zealous  of  all  the  popish  monks,  and  those  who 
most  implicitly  obeyed  the  Church  of  Rome,  were  the  Domini- 
cans and  Franciscans;  these,  therefore,  the  pope  thought  proper 
to  invest  with  an  exclusive  right  of  presiding  over  the  different 
courts  of  inquisition,  and  gave  them  the  most  unlimited  powers, 
as  judges  delegated  by  him,  and  immediately  representing  his  per- 
son; they  were  permitted  to  excommunicate,  or  sentence  to 
death  whom  they  thought  proper,  upon  the  most  slight  informa- 
tion of  heresy.  They  were  allowed  to  publish  crusades  against 
all  whom  they  deemed  heretics,  and  enter  into  leagues  with  sov- 
ereign princes,  to  join  their  crusades  with  their  forces. 

Their  power  was  further  increased  by  the  emperor  Frederic 
the  Second,  who  declared  himself  the  protector  and  friend  of  all 
the  inquisitors,  and  published  the  cruel  edicts,  viz.  i.  That  all 
heretics  who  continued  obstinate,  should  be  burnt.  2.  That  all 
heretics  w*ho  repented,  should  be  imprisoned  for  life. 

This  zeal  in  the  emperor,  for  the  inquisitors  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  persuasion,  arose  from  a  report  which  had  been  propa- 
gated throughout  Europe,  that  he  intended  to  renounce  Chris- 
tianity, and  turn  Mahometan;  the  emperor  therefore,  attempted, 
by  the  height  of  bigotry,  to  contradict  the  report,  and  to  show 
his  attachment  to  popery  by  cruelty. 

The  officers  of  the  inquisition  are  three  inquisitors,  or 
judges,  a  fiscal  proctor,  two  secretaries,  a  magistrate,  a  messen- 
ger, a  receiver,  a  jailer,  an  agent  of  confiscated  possessions; 
several  assessors,  counsellors,  executioners,  physicians,  surgeons, 
door-keepers,  familiars,  and  visitors,  who  are  sworn  to  secrecy. 


3'/^  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

The  principal  accusation  against  those  who  are  subject  to 
this  tribunal  is  heresy,  which  comprises  all  that  is  spoken,  or 
written,  against  any  of  the  articles  of  the  creed,  or  the  traditions 
of  the  Roman  Church.  The  inquisition  likewise  takes  cognizance 
of  such  as  are  accused  of  being  magicians,  and  of  such  who  read 
the  Bible  in  the  common  language,  the  Talmud  of  the  Jews,  or 
the  Alcoran  of  the  Mahomedans. 

Upon  all  occasions  the  inquisitors  carry  on  their  processes 
with  the  utmost  severity,  and  punish  those  who  offend  them  with 
the  most  unparalleled  cruelty.  A  Protestant  has  seldom  any  mer- 
cy shown  him,  and  a  Jew,  who  turns  Christian,  is  far  from  being 
secure. 

A  defense  in  the  inquisition  is  of  little  use  to  the  prisoner, 
for  a  suspicion  only  is  deemed  sufficient  cause  of  condemnation, 
and  the  greater  'his  wealth  the  greater  his  danger.  The  principal 
part  of  the  inquisitors'  cruelties  is  owing  to  their  rapacity;  they 
destroy  the  life  to  possess  the  property;  and,  under  the  pretence 
of  zeal,  plunder  each  obnoxious  individual. 

A  prisoner  in  the  inquisition  is  never  allowed  to  see  the  face 
of  his  accuser,  or  of  the  witnesses  against  him,  but  every  method 
is  taken  by  threats  and  tortures,  to  oblige  him  to  accuse  himself, 
and  by  that  means  corroborate  their  evidence.  If  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  inquisition  is  not  fully  allowed,  vengeance  is  denounced 
against  such  as  are  in  question,  for  if  any  of  its  officers  are  op- 
posed, those  who  oppose  them  are  almost  certain  to  be  sufferers 
for  their  temerity ;  the  maxim  of  the  inquisition  being  to  strike 
terror,  and  awe  those  who  are  the  objects  of  its  power  into  obe- 
dience. High  birth,  distinguished  rank,  great  dignity,  or  emi- 
nent employments,  afe  no  protection  from  its  severities;  and  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  373 

lowest  officers  of  the  inquisition  can  make  tlie  highest  characters 
tremble. 

When  the  person  impeached  is  condemned,  he  is  either  se- 
verely wliipped,  violently  tortured,  sent  to  the  galleys,  or  sen- 
tenced to  death;  and  in  either  case  the  effects  are  confiscated. 
After  judgment,  a  procession  is  performed  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, which  ceremony  is  called  an  auto  de  fe^,  or  act  of  faith. 

The  following  is  an  account  of  an  auto  de  fe,  performed  at 
Madrid : 

The  officers  of  the  inquisition,  preceded  by  trumpets,  kettler 
drums,  and  their  banner,  marched  on  the  30th  of  May,  in  caval- 
cade, to  the  palace  of  the  great  square,  where  they  declared  by 
proclamation,  that,  on  the  30th  of  June,  the  sentence  of  the  pris- 
oners would  be  put  in  execution. 

Of  these  prisoners,  twenty  men  and  women,  with  one  rene- 
gado  Mahometan,  were  ordered  to  be  burned;  fifty  Jews  and 
Jewesses,  having  never  before  been  imprisoned,  and  repenting  of 
their  crimes  were  sentenced  to  a  long  confinement,  and  to  wear  a 
yellow  cap.  The  whole  court  of  Spain  was  present  on  this  occa- 
sion. The  grand  inquisitor's  chair  was  placed  in  a  sort  of  tri- 
bunal far  above  that  of  the  king. 

Among  those  who  were  to  suffer,  was  a  young  Jewess  of  ex- 
quisite beauty,  and  but  seventeen  years  of  age.  Being  on  the 
same  side  of  the  scaffold  where  the  queen  was  seated,  she  ad- 
dressed her,  in  hopes  of  obtaining  a  pardon,  in  the  following 
pathetic  speech :  "Great  queen,  will  not  your  royal  presence  be 
of  some  service  to  me  in  my  miserable  condition?  Have  regard 
to  my  youth;  and,  oh!  consider,  that  I  am  about  to  dieior  pro* 
fessing  a  religion  imbibed  from  my  earliest  infancy  1"  .Her 


374  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

majesty  seemed  greatly  to  pity  her  distress,  but  turned  away 
her  eyes,  as  she  did  not  dare  to  speak  a  word  in  behalf  of  a  person 
who  had  been  declared  a  heretic. 

Now  mass  began,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  priest  came 
from  the  altar,  placed  himself  near  the  scaffold,  and  seated  him- 
self in  a  chair  prepared  for  that  purpose. 

The  chief  inquisitor  then  descended  from  the  amphitheatre, 
dressed  in  his  cope,  and  having  a  mitre  on  his  head.  After  hav- 
ing bowed  to  the  altar,  he  advanced  towards  the  king's  balcony, 
and  went  up  to  it,  attended  by  some  of  his  officers,  carrying  a 
cross  and  the  gospels,  with  a  book  containing  the  oath  by  which 
the  kings  of  Spain  oblige  themselves  to  protect  the  Catholic 
faith,  to  extirpate  heretics,  and  to  support  with  all  their  power 
and  force  the  prosecutions  and  decrees  of  the  inquisition;  a  like 
oath  was  administered  to  the  counsellors  and  whole  assembly. 
The  mass  was  begun  about  twelve  at  noon,  and  did  not  end  till 
nine  in  the  evening,  being  protracted  by  a  proclamation  of  the 
sentences  of  the  several  criminals,  which  were  already  separately 
rehearsed  aloud  one  after  the  other. 

After  this,  followed  the  burning  of  the  twenty-one  men 
and  women,  whose  intrepidity  ill  suffering  that  horrid  death  was 
truly  astonishing.  The  king's  near  situation  to  the  criminals  ren- 
dered their  dying  groans  very  audible  to  him ;  he  could  not,  how- 
ever, be  absent  from  this  dreadful  scene,  as  it  is  esteemed  a  re- 
ligious one;  and  his  coronation  oath  obliges  him  to  give  a  sanc- 
tion by  his  presence  to  all  the  acts  of  the  tribunal. 

What  we  have  already  said  may  be  applied  to  inquisitions  in 
general,  as  well  as  to  that  of  Spain  in  particular.  The  inquisitioti 
belonging  to  Portugal  is  exactly  upon  a  similar  plan  to  that  of 


NINETEEN  HI  CENTURY  VEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  375 

Spain,  having  been  instituted  much  about  the  same  time,  and 
put  imder  the  same  regulations.  The  inquisitors  allow  the  tor- 
ture to  be  used  only  three  times,  but  during  those  times  it  is  so 
severely  inflicted,  that  the  prisoner  either  dies  under  it,  or  con- 
tinues always  a  cripple,  and  suffers  the  severest  pains  upon 
every  change  of  weather.  We  shall  give  an  ample  description 
of  the  severe  torments  occasioned  by  the  torture,  from  the  ac- 
count of  one  who  suffered  it  tlhe  three  respective  times,  but  hap- 
pily survived  the  cruelties  he  underwent. 

At  the  first  time  of  torturing,  six  executioners  entered, 
stripped  him  naked  to  his  drawers,  and  laid  him  upon  his  back 
on  a  kind  of  stand,  elevated  a  few  feet  from  the  floor.  The 
operation  commenced  by  putting  an  iron  collar  around  his  neck, 
and  a  ring  to  each  foot,  which  fastened  him  to  the  stand.  His 
limbs  being  thus  stretched  out,  they  wound  two  ropes  round 
each  thigh ;  which  ropes  being  passed  under  the  scaffold  through 
holes  made  for  that  purpose,  were  all  drawn  tight  at  the  same 
instant  of  time,  by  four  of  the  men,  on  a  given  signal. 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  the  pains  which  immediately  suc- 
ceeded were  intolerable;  the  ropes,  wiiich  were  of  a  small  size, 
cut  through  the  prisoner's  flesh  to  the  bone,  making  the  blood  to 
gush  out  at  eight  different  places  thus  bound  at  a  time.  As  the 
prisoner  persisted  in  not  mt^^ang  any  confession  of  what  the 
inquisitors  required,  the  ropes  were  drawn  in  this  manner  four 
times  successively. 

The  manner  of  inflicting  the'second  torture  was  as  follows : 
They  forced  his  arms  backwards  so  that  the  palms  of  his  hands 
were  turned  outward  behind  him;  when,  by  means  of  a  rope  that 
fastened  them  together  at  the  v/rists,  and  which  was  turned  by 


376  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM. 

an  engine,  they  drew  them  by  degrees  nearer  each  other,  in  sucH 
a  manner  that  the  back  of  each  hand  touched,  and  stood  exactly 
parallel  to  each  other.  In  consequence  of  this  violent  contortion, 
both  his  shoulders  became  dislocated,  and  a  considerable  quantity 
of  blood  issued  from  his  mouth.  This  torture  was  repeated 
thrice;  after  which  he  was  again  taken  to  the  dungeon,  and  the 
surgeon  set  the  dislocated  bones. 

Two  months  after  the  second  torture,  the  prisoner  being  a 
little  recovered,  was  again  ordered  to  the  torture-room,  and 
there,  for  the  last  time,  made  to  undergo  another  kind  of  punish* 
ment,  which  was  suffered  twice  without  intermission.  The  exe- 
cutioners fastened  a  thick  iron  chain  round  his  body,  which, 
crossing  at  the  breast,  terminated  at  the  wrists.  Then  they 
placed  him  with  his  back  against  a  thick  board,  at  each  extremity 
of  which  was  a  pulley,  through  which  there  ran  a  rope  that  caught 
the  end  of  the  chain  at  his  wrists.  The  executioner  then,  stretch- 
ing the  end  of  this  rope  by  means  of  a  roller,  placed  at  a  distance 
behind  him,  pressed  or  bruised  his  stomach  in  proportion  as  the 
ends  of  the  chain  were  drawn  tighter.  They  tortured  him  in  this 
manner  to  such  a  degree,  that  his  wrists,  as  well  as  his  shoulders, 
were  quite  dislocated.  They  were,  however,  soon  set  by  the  sur- 
geons; but  the  barbarians,  not  yet  satisfied  with  this  species  of 
cruelty,  made  him  immediately  undergo  the  like  torture  a  second 
time,  which  he  sustained  (though,  if  possible,  attended  with 
keener  pains,)  with  equal  constancy  and  resolution.  After  this, 
he  was  again  remanded  to  his  dungeon,  attended  by  the  surgeon 
to  dress  his  bruises  and  adjust  the  parts  dislocated,  and  here  he 
continued  till  their  Auto  de  Fe,  or  jail  delivery,  when  he  was 
discharged,  crippled  and  diseased  for  life. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OE  ROMANISM.  377 

The  fifth  day  of  November,  Mr.  Nicholas  Burton,  citizefl 
some  time  of  London,  and  merchant,  dwelHng  in  the  parish  of 
Little  St.  Bartholomew,  peaceably  and  quietly  following  his  traf- 
fic in  the  trade  of  merchandise,  and  being  in  the  city  of  Cadiz, 
in  the  party  of  Andalusia,  in  Spain,  there  came  into  his  lodging 
a  Judas,  or,  as  they  term  them,  a  familiar  of  the  fathers  of  the 
inquisition;  who,  asking  for  the  said  Nicholas  Burton,  feigned 
that  he  had  a  letter  to  deliver  into  his  own  hands;  by  which 
means  he  spake  with  him  immediately.  And  having  no  letter  to 
deliver  to  him,  then  the  said  promotor,  or  familiar,  at  the  notion 
of  the  devil,  his  master,  whose  messenger  he  was,  invented  an- 
other lie,  and  said,  that  he  would  like  lading  for  London  in  such 
ships  as  the  said  Nicholas  Burton  had  freighted  to  lade,  if  he 
would  let  any;  which  was  partly  to  know  where  he  loaded  his 
goods,  that  they  might  attach  them,  and  chiefly  to  protract  the 
time  until  the  sergeant  of  the  inquisition  might  come  and  appre- 
hend the  body  of  the  said  Nicholas  Burton;  which  they  did  incon- 
tinently. 

He  then  w^ell  perceiving  that  they  were  not  able  to  burden 
or  charge  him  that  he  had  written,  spoke,  or  done  any  thing 
there  in  that  country  against  the  ecclesiastical  or  temporal  laws 
of  the  same  realm,  boldly  asked  them  what  they  had  to  lay  to 
his  charge  that  they  did  so  arrest  him,  and  bade  them  to  declare 
the  cause,  and  he  would  answer  them.  Notwithstanding  they 
answered  nothing,  but  commanded  him  with  threatening  words 
to  hold  his  peace,  and  not  speak  one  word  to  them. 

And  so  they  carried  him  to  the  filthy  common  prison  of  the 
town  of  Cadiz,  where  he  remained  in  irons  fourteen  days  amongst 
thieves. 

All  which  time  he  so  instructed  the  poor  prisoners  in  tlie 


878  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

word  of  God,  according  to  the  good  talent  which  God  had  given 
him  in  that  behalf,  and  also  in  the  Spanish  tongue  to  utter  the 
same,  that  in  that  short  space  he  had  well  reclaimed  several  of 
those  superstitious  and  ignorant  Spaniards  to  embrace  the  word 
of  God,  and  to  reject  their  popish  traditions. 

Which  being  known  unto  the  officers  of  the  inquisition,  they 
conveyed  him  laden  with  irons  from  thence  to  a  city  called  Se- 
ville, into  a  more  cruel  and  straiter  prison  called  Triana,  where 
the  said  fathers  of  the  inquisition  proceeded  against  him  secretly 
according  to  their  accustomable  cruel  tyranny,  that  never  after 
he  could  be  suffered  to  write  or  speak  to  any  of  his  nation:  so 
that  to  this  day  it  is  unknown  who  Was  his  accuser. 

Afterward,  the  20th  of  December,  they  brought  the  said 
Nicholas  Burton,  v/ith  a  great  number  of  other  prisoners,  for 
professing  the  true  Christian  religion,  into  the  city  of  Seville,  to 
a  place  where  the  said  inquisitors  sat  in  judgment  which  they 
called  Auto,  with  a  canvass  coat,  whereupon  in  divers  parts  was 
painted  the  figure  of  a  huge  devil,  tormenting  a  soul  in  a  flame 
of  fire,  and  on  his  head  a  copping  tank  of  the  same  work. 

His  tongue  was  forced  out  of  his  mouth  with  a  cloven  stick 
fastened  upon  it,  that  he  should  not  utter  his  conscience  and  faith 
to  the  people,  and  so  he  v/as  set  v/ith  another  Englishman  of 
Southampton,  and  divers  other  condemned  men  for  religion,  as 
well  Frenchmen  as  Spaniards,  upon  a  scaffold  over  against  the 
said  inquisition,  where  their  sentences  and  judgments  were  read 
and  pronounced  against  them. 

And  immediately  after  the  said  sentences  given  they  were 
carried  from  thence  to  the  place  of  execution  without  the  city, 
where  they  most  cruelly  burned  them,  for  whose  constant  faith 
God  be  praised. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  379 


This  Nicholas  Burton,  by  the  way,  while  in  the  flames  of  fire, 
had  so  cheerful  a  countenance,  embracing  death  with  all  patience 
and  gladness,  that  the  tormentors  and  enemies  who  stood  by, 
said  that  the  devil  had  his  soul  before  he  came  to  the  fire;  and 
therefore  they  said  his  senses  of  feeling  had  left  him. 

It  happened  that  after  the  arrest  of  Nicholas  Burton  im- 
mediately all  the  goods  and  merchandise  which  he  brought 
with  him  into  Spain  by  the  way  of  traffic,  were  (according  to 
their  common  usage)  seized  and  taken  into  the  sequester;  among 
which  they  also  rolled  up  much  that  appertained  to  another  Eng- 
lish merchant,  with  whom  he  was  credited  as  factor.  Whereof, 
as  soon  as  news  was  brought  to  the  merchant  of  the  imprison- 
ment of  his  factor,  also  of  the  arrest  made  upon  his  goods,  he 
sent  his  attorney  into  Spain,  with  authority  from  him  to  make 
claim  to  his  goods,  and  to  demand  them;  whose  name  was  John 
Fronton,  of  Bristol. 

When  his  attorney  landed  at  Seville,  and  had  shown  all 
his  letters  and  writings  to  the  holy  house,  requiring  that  such 
goods  might  be  delivered  into  his  possession,  answer  was 
made  to  him  that  he  must  sue  by  bill,  and  retain  an  advocate 
(but  all  was  doubtless  to  delay  him),  and  they  by  way  of  cour- 
tesy assigned  him  one  to  frame  his  supplication  for  him,  and  other 
such  bills  of  petition  as  he  had  to  exhibit  into  their  holy  court, 
demanding  for  each  legal  bill  eight  rials,  albeit  they  stood  him  in 
no  more  stead  than  if  he  had  put  up  none  at  all.  And  for  the 
space  of  three  or  four  months  this  fellow  missed  not  twice  a  day 
attending  every  morning  and  afternoon  at  the  inquisitors'  palace, 
suing  before  them  upon  his  knees  for  his  dispatch,  but  especially 
to  the  bishop  of  Tarracon,  who  was  at  that  very  time  chief  of  the 


380  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

inquisition  at  Seville,  that  he  of  his  absolute  autliority  would 
command  restitution  to  be  made  thereof;, but  the  booty  was  so 
good  and  great,  that  it  was  very  hard  to  recover  it  again. 

At  length,  after  he  had  spent  four  whole  months  in  suits  and 
requests,  and  also  to  no  purpose,  he  received  this  answer  from 
them :  That  he  must  show  better  evidence,  and  bring  more  suffi- 
cient certificates  out  of  England  for  proof  of  this  matter  than 
those  which  he  had  already  presented  to  the  court.  Whereupon 
the  party  forthwith  posted  to  London,  and  with  all  speed  returned 
to  Seville  again  with  more  ample  and  large  letters  of  testimony 
and  certificates,  according  to  their  request,  and  exhibited  them 
to  the  court. 

Notwithstanding,  the  inquisitors  still  held  him  off,  excus- 
ing themselves  by  lack  of  leisure,  and  that  they  were  occupied 
with  more  weighty  affairs,  and  with  such  answers  put  him  off 
four  months  longer. 

At  last,  when  the  party  had  well  nigh  spent  all  his  money, 
and  therefore  sued  the  more  earnestly  for  his  dispatch,  they  re- 
ferred the  matter  wholly  to  the  bishop.  Of  whom,  when  he  re- 
paired unto  him,  he  made  this  answer,  that  for  himself,  he  knew 
what  he  had  to  do,  hoWbeit  he  was  but  one  man,  and  the  determi- 
nation appertained  to  the  other  commissioners  as  well  as  unto 
him;  and  thus  by  postponing  and  passing  it  from  one  to  another, 
the  party  could  obtain  no  end  to  his  suit.  Yet,  for  his  importu- 
nity's sake,  they  were  resolved  to  dispatch  him;  it  was  on  this 
sort  one  of  the  inquisitors,  called  Gasco,  a  man  very  well  experi- 
enced in  these  practices,  told  the  attorney  to  come  to  him  after 
dinner. 

The  fellow  being  glad  to  hear  this  news,  and  supposing  that 
his  goods  would  be  restored  to  him,  and  that  he  was  called  in  for 


KIXETEEXTH  CEXTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  381 

that  purpose  to  talk  with  the  other  that  was  in  prison  to  confer 
with  him  about  their  accounts,  rather  through  a  Httle  misunder- 
standing, hearing  the  inquisitor  cast  out  a  word,  that  it  should  be 
needful  for  him  to  talk  with  the  prisoner,  and  being  thereupon 
more  than  half  persuaded,  that  at  length  they  meant  good  faith, 
did  so,  and  repaired  thither  about  the  evening.  Immediately  upon 
his  coming,  the  jailer  was  forthwith  charged  with  him,  to  shut 
him  up  close  in  such  a  prison  where  they  appointed  him. 

The  party  hoping  at  the  first  that  he  had  been  called  for 
about  some  other  matter,  and  seeing  himself,  contrary  to  his  ex- 
pectation, cast  into  a  dark  dungeon,  perceived  at  length  that  the 
world  went  with  him  far  otherwise  than  he  supposed  it  would 
have  done. 

But  within  two  or  three  days  after,  he  was  brought  into  the 
court  where  he  began  to  demand  his  goods :  and  because  it  was 
device  that  well  served  their  turn  without  any  more  circumstance, 
they  bid  him  say  his  Ave  Maria;  "Ave  Maria  gratia  plena,  Dom- 
inus  tecum,  benedicta  tu  in  mulieribus,  et  benedictus  fructus  ven- 
tris  tui  Jesus,  Amen." 

The  same  was  written  word  by  word  as  he  spake  it,  and  with- 
out any  more  talk  of  claiming  his  goods,  because  it  was  needless, 
they  commanded  him  to  prison  again,  and  entered  an  action 
against  him  as  a  heretic,  forasmuch  as  he  did  not  say  his  Ave 
Maria  after  the  Romish  fashion,  but  ended  it  very  suspiciously, 
for  he  should  have  added  moreover;  "Sancta  Maria  mater  Dei, 
era  pro  nobis  peccatorious :"  by  abbreviating  whereof,  it  was  evi- 
dent enough  (said  they)  that  he  did  not  allow  the  mediation  of 
saints. 

Thus  they  picked  a  quarrel  to  detain  him  in  prison  a  longer 


382  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

season,  and  afterward  brought  him  forth  upon  their  stage  dis- 
guised after  their  manner,  where  sentence  was  given,  that  he 
should  lose  all  the  goods  which  he  sued  for,  though  they  were 
not  his  own,  and  besides  this,  suffer  a  year's  imprisonment. 

Mark  Brughes,  an  Englishman,  master  of  an  English  ship, 
called  the  Minion,  was  burnt  in  a  city  in  Portugal. 

William  Hoker,  a  young  man  about  the  age  of  sixteen  years, 
being  an  Englishman,  was  stoned  to  death  by  certain  young  men 
in  the  city  of  Seville,  for  the  same  righteous  cause. 

When  the  crown  of  Spain  was  contested  for  in  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  by  two  princes,  who  equally  pretended  to 
the  sovereignty,  France  espoused  the  cause  of  one  competitor, 
and  England  of  the  other. 

The  Duke  of  Berwick,  a  natural  son  of  James  11. ,  who  ab- 
dicated England,  commanded  the  Spanish  and  French  forces, 
and  defeated  the  English  at  the  celebrated  battle  of  Almanza. 
The  army  was  then  divided  into  two  parts;  the  one  consisting 
of  Spaniards  and  French,  headed  by  the  Duke  of  Berwick,  ad- 
vanced towards  Catalonia;  the  other  body,  consisting  of  French 
troops  only,  commanded  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  proceeded  to 
the  conquest  of  Arragon. 

As  the  troops  drew  near  to  the  city  of  Arragon,  the  magis- 
trates came  to  offer  the  keys  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans;  but  he  told 
them,  haughtily,  they  were  rebels,  and  that  he  would  not  accept 
the  keys,  for  he  had  orders  to  enter  the  city  through  a  breach. 

He  accordingly  made  a  breach  in  the  walls  with  his  cannon, 
and  then  entered  the  city  through  it,  together  with  his  whole 
army.  When  he  had  made  every  necessary  regulation  here,  he 
departed  to  subdue  other  places,  leaving  a  strong  garrison  at  once 


NI^ETHEXril  CEXTURY  DEEDS  OE  R0}L1NIS\]L  38'i 


.to  overawe  and  defend,  under  the  command  of  his  heutenant- 
general,  M.  de  Legal.  This  gentleman,  though  brought  up  a 
Roman  Catholic,  was  totally  free  from  superstition;  he  united 
great  talents  with  great  bravery;  and  was,  at  once,  the  skilled 
officer,  and  accomplished  gentleman. 

The  duke,  before  his  departure,  had  ordered  that  heavy  con- 
tributions should  be  levied  upon  the  city  in  the  following  manner : 

1.  That  the  magistrates  and  principal  inhabitants  should 
pay  a  thousand  crowns  per  month  for  the  duke's  table. 

2.  That  every  house  should  pay  one  pistole,  which  would 
monthly  amount  to  18,000  pistoles. 

3.  That  every  convent  and  monastery  should  pay  a  dona- 
tive, proportionable  to  its  riches  and  rents. 

The  two  last  contributions  to  be  appropriated  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  army. 

The  money  levied  upon  the  magistrates  and  principal  in- 
habitants, and  upon  every  house,  was  paid  as  soon  as  demanded; 
but  when  the  proper  persons  applied  to  the  heads  of  convents  and 
monasteries,  they  found  that  the  ecclesiastics  were  not  so  willing, 
as  other  people,  to  part  with  their  cash. 

M.  de  Legal  sent  to  the  Jesuits  a  peremptory  order  to  pay 
the  money  immediately.  The  superior  of  the  Jesuits  returned  for 
answer,  that  for  the  clergy  to  pay  money  for  the  army  was 
against  all  ecclesiastical  immunities;  and  that  he  knew  of  no 
argument  which  could  authorize  such  a  procedure.  M.  de  Legal 
then  sent  four  companies  of  dragoons  to  quarter  themselves  in 
the  college,  with  this  sarcastic  message:  "To  convince  you  of 
the  necessity  of  paying  the  money,  I  have  sent  four  substantial 
arguments  to  your  college,  drawn  from  the  system  of  military 


S84  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

logic;  and,  therefore,  hope  you  will  not  need  any  further  admoni- 
tion to  direct  your  conduct." 

These  proceedings  greatly  perplexed  the  Jesuits,  who  dis- 
patched an  express  to  court  to  the  king's  confessor,  who  was  of 
their  order;  but  the  dragoons  were  much  more  expeditious  in 
plundering  and  doing  mischief,  than  the  courier  in  his  journey; 
so  that  the  Jesuits,  seeing  everything  going  to  wreck  and  ruin, 
thought  proper  to  adjust  the  matter  amicably,  and  paid  the 
money  before  the  return  of  their  messenger.  The  Augustins  and 
Carmelites,  taking  warning  by  what  had  happened  to  the 
Jesuits,  prudently  went  and  paid  the  money,  and  by  that  means 
escaped  the  study  of  military  arguments,  and  of  being  taught 
logic  by  dragoons. 

But  the  Dominicans,  who  were  all  familiars  of,  or  agents 
dependent  on,  the  inquisition,  imagined  that  that  very  circum- 
stance would  be  their  protection;  but  they  were  mistaken,  for 
M.  de  Legal  neither  feared  nor  respected  the  inquisition.  The 
chief  of  the  Dominicans  sent  word  to  the  military  commander 
that  his  order  was  poor,  and  had  not  any  money  whatever  to  pay 
the  donative;  for,  says  he,  the  whole  wealth  of  the  Dominicans 
consists  only  in  the  silver  images  of  the  apostles  and  saints,  as 
large  as  life,  which  are  placed  in  our  church,  and  which  it  would 
be  sacrilege  to  remove. 

This  insinuation  was  meant  to  terrify  the  French  com- 
mander, whom  the  inquisitors  imagined  would  not  dare  to  be  so 
profane  as  to  wish  for  the  possession  of  the  precious  idols. 

He,  however,  sent  word  that  the  silver  images  would  make 
admirable  substitutes  for  money,  and  would  be  more  in  charac- 
ter in  his  possession,  than  in  that  of  the  Dominicans  themselves, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  385 

"For,"  said  he,  "while  you  possess  them  in  the  manner  you  do  at 
present,  they  stand  up  in  niches,  useless  and  motionless,  without 
being  of  the  least  benefit  to  mankind  in  general,  or  even  to  your- 
selves; but,  when  they  come  into  my  possession,  they  shall  be 
useful;  I  will  put  them  in  motion;  for  I  intend  to  have  them 
coined,  when  they  may  travel  like  the  apostles,  be  beneficial  in 
various  places,  and  circulate  for  the  universal  service  of  man- 
kind." 

The  inquisitiors  were  astonished  at  this  treatment,  which 
they  never  expected  to  receive,  even  from  crowned  heads ;  they, 
therefore,  determined  to  deliver  their  precious  images  in  a  solemn 
procession,  that  they  might  excite  the  people  to  an  insurrection. 
The  Dominican  friars  w'ere  accordingly  ordered  to  march  to  De 
Legal's  house,  with  the  silver  apostles  and  saints,  in  a  mournful 
manner,  having  lighted  tapers  with  them,  and  bitterly  crying  all 
the  way,  heresy,  heresy. 

M.  de  Legal,  hearing  these  proceedings,  ordered  four  com- 
panies of  grenadiers  to  line  the  street  which  led  to  his  house;  each 
grenadier  was  ordered  to  liave  his  loaded  fuzce  in  one  hand, 
and  a  lighted  taper  in  the  other;  so  that  the  troops  might  either 
repel  force  with  force,  or  do  honor  to  the  farcical  solemnity. 

The  friars  did  all  they  could  to  raise  the  tumult,  but  the 
common  people  were  too  much  afraid  of  the  troops  under  arms  to 
obey  them;  the  silver  images  were,therefore,  of  necessity  deliv- 
ered up  to  M.  de  Legal,  who  sent  them  to  the  mint,  and  ordered 
them  to  be  coined  immediately. 

The  project  of  raising  an  insurrection  having  failed,  the 
inquisitors  determined  to  excommunicate  M.  de  Legal,  unless 
he  would  release  their  precious  silver  saints  from  Imprisonment 

t25\ 


m  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

*n  the  mint  before  they  were  melted  down,  or  otherwise  muti- 
lated. The  French  commander  absolutely  refused  to  release 
the  images,  but  said  they  should  certainly  travel  and  do  good; 
upon  which  the  inquisitors  drew  up  the  form  of  excommunica- 
tion and  ordered  their  secretary  to  go  and  read  it  to  M.  de  Legal. 

The  secretary  punctually  performed  his  commission,  and 
read  the  excommunication  deliberately  and  distinctly.  The 
French  commander  heard  it  with  great  patience,  and  politely  told 
the  secretar}^  he  would  answer  it  the  next  day. 

When  the  secretary  of  the  inquisition  was  gone,  M.  de 
Legal  ordered  his  own  secretary  to  prepare  a  form  of  excom- 
munication, exactly  like  that  sent  by  the  inquisition;  but  to  make 
this  alteration,  instead  of  his  name  to  put  in  those  of  the  inquisi- 
tors. 

The  next  morning  he  ordered  four  regiments  under  arms, 
and  commanded  them  to  accompany  his  secretary,  and  act  as  he 
directed. 

The  secretary  went  to  the  inquisition,  and  insisted  upon 
admittance,  which,  after  a  great  deal  of  altercation,  was  granted. 
As  soon  as  he  entered,  he  read,  in  an  audible  voice,  the  excom- 
munication sent  by  M.  de  Legal  against  the  inquisitors.  The  in- 
quisitors were  all  present,  and  heard.it  with  astonishment,  never 
having  before  met  with  any  individual  who  dared  behave  so 
boldly.  They  loudly  cried  out  against  De  Legal  as  a  heretic; 
and  said  this  was  a  most  daring  insult  against  the  Catholic  faith. 
But,  to  surprise  them  still  more,  the  French  secretary  told  them 
they  must  remove  from  their  present  lodgings,  for  the  French 
commander  wanted  to  quarter  the  troops  in  the  inquisition,  as  it 
W'ls  the  most  commodious  place  in  the  whole  city. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  SSI 

The  inquisitors  exclaimed  loudly  upon  this  occasion,  when 
the  secretary  put  them  under  a  strong  guard,  and  sent  them  to 
a  place  appointed  by  M.  de  Legal  to  receive  them.  The  inquisi- 
tors, finding  how  things  went,  begged  that  they  might  be  per- 
mitted to  take  their  private  property,  which  was  granted,  and 
they  immediately  set  out  for  Madrid,  where  they  made  the  most 
bitter  complaints  to  the  king;  but  the  monarch  told  them  he 
could  not  grant  them  any  redress,  as  the  injuries  they  had  re- 
ceived were  from  his  grandfather,  the  king  of  France's  troops, 
by  whose  assistance  alone  he  could  be  firmly  established  in  his 
kingdom.  "Had  it  been  my  own  troops,"  said  he,  "I  would  have 
punished  them;  but  as  it  is,  I  cannot  pretend  to  exert  any 
authority." 

In  the  meantime,  M.  de  Legal's  secretary  set  open  all  the 
doors  of  the  inquisition,  and  released  the  prisoners,  who 
amounted  in  the  whole  to  400;  and  among  these  were  sixty  beau- 
tiful young  women,  who  appeared  to  form  a  seraglio  for  the 
three  principal  inquisitors. 

This  discovery,  which  laid  the  enormity  of  the  inquisitors  so 
open,  greatly  alarmed  the  archbishop,  who  desired  M.  de  Legal 
*  to  send  the  women  to  his  palace,  and  he  would  take  proper  care 
of  them;  and  at  the  same  time  he  published  an  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sure against  all  such  as  should  ridicule,  or  blame,  the  holy  ofifice 
of  the  inquisition. 

The  French  commander  sent  word  to  the  archbishop  that 
the  prisoners  had  either  run  away,  or  were  securely  concealed 
by  their  friends,  or  even  by  his  own  ofifiicers,  that  It  was  impossi- 
ble for  him  to  send  them  back  again;  and,  therefore,  the  inquisi- 
tion having  committed  such  atrocious  actions,  must  now  put  up 
with  their  exposure. 


288  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

One  of  the  ladies  thus  happily  delivered  from  captivity,  was 
afterward  married  to  the  very  French  officer  who  opened  the 
door  of  her  dungeon,  and  released  her  from  confinement.  The 
lady  related  the  following  circumstances  to  her  husband,  and  to 
M.  Gavin  (author  of  the  Master  Key  to  Popery)  from  the  latter 
of  whom  we  have  selected  the  most  material  particulars. 

"I  went  one  day,  says  the  lady,  with  my  mother,  to  visit 
the  Countess  Attarass,  and  I  met  there  Don  Francisco  Tlrregon, 
her  confessor  and  second  Inquisitor  of  the  holy  office. 

"After  we  had  drunk  chocolate  he  asked  me  my  age,  my  con- 
fessor's name,  and  many  intricate  questions  about  religion.  The 
severity  of  his  countenance  frightened  me,  which  he  perceiving, 
told  the  Countess  to  inform  me  that  he  was  not  so  severe  as  he 
looked  for.  He  then  caressed  me  in  a  most  obliging  manner, 
presented  his  hand,  which  I  kissed  with  great  reverence  and 
modesty;  and,  as  he  went  away,  he  made  use  of  this  remarkable 
expression :  "My  dear  child,  I  shall  remember  you  till  the  next 
time."  I  did  not,  at  the  time,  mark  the  sense  of  the  words;  for 
I  was  inexperienced  in  matters  of  gallantry,  being,  at  that  time 
but  fifteen  years  old.  Indeed,  he  unfortunately  did  remember 
me,  for  the  very  same  night,  when  our  whole  family  were  In  bed, 
we  heard  a  great  knocking  at  the  door. 

"The  maid,  who  laid  in  the  same  room  with  me,  went  to  the 
window  and  Inquired  who  was  there.  The  answer  was :  The 
Holy  Inquisition.'  On  hearing  this  I  screamed  out:  'Father! 
father !  dear  father,  I  am  ruined  forever !'  My  father  got  up,  and 
came  to  me  to  know  the  occasion  of  my  crying  out;  I  told  him 
the  Iti^uisitGtfs  were  at  the  door.  On  hearing  this,  Instead  of 
protecting  me,  he  hurried  down  stairs  as  fast  as  possible;  and, 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  889 

lest  the  maid  should  be  too  slow,  opened  the  street  door  himself; 
under  such  abject  and  slavish  fears,  are  bigoted  minds!  as  soon 
as  he  knew  they  came  for  me,  he  fetched  me  with  great  solemnity, 
and  delivered  me  to  the  officers  wiith  much  submission. 

"I  was  hurried  into  a  coach,  with  no  other  clothing  than  a 
petticoat  and  a  mantle,  for  they  would  not  let  me  stay  to  take 
anything  else.  My  fright  was  so  great,  I  expected  to  die  that 
very  night;  but  judge  my  surprise  when  I  was  ushered  into  an 
apartment,  decorated  with  all  the  elegance  that  taste,  united  with 
opulence,  could  bestov/. 

"Soon  after  the  officers  left  me,  a  maid  servant  appeared 
with  a  silver  salver,  on  which  were  sweetmeats  and  cinnamon 
water.  She  desired  me  to  take  some  refreshment  before  I  went 
to  bed;  I  told  her  I  could  not,  but  should  be  glad  if  she  could 
inform  me  whether  I  was  to  be  put  to  death  that  night  or  not. 

**  To  be  put  to  death !'  exclaimed  she,  'you  do  not  come 
here  to  be  put  to  death,  but  to  live  like  a  princess,  and  you  shall 
want  for  nothing  in  the  world  but  the  liberty  of  going  out;  so 
pray  don't  be  afraid,  but  go  to  bed  and  sleep  easy;  for  to-mor- 
row you  shall  see  wonders  within  this  house;  and  as  I  am  chosen 
to  be  your  waiting  maid,  I  hope  you'll  be  very  kind  to  me.' 

"I  was  going  to  ask  some  questions,  but  she  told  me  she 
must  not  answer  anything  more  till  the  next  day,  but  assured  me 
that  nobody  would  come  to  disturb  me.  'I  am  going,'  said  she, 
'about  a  little  business,  but  I  will  come  back  presently,  for  my 
bed  is  in  the  closet  next  yours.'  So  she  left  me  for  about  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour,  and  then  returned.  She  then  said :  'Madam, 
pray  let  me  know  v/hen  you  will  be  pleased  to  have  your  choco- 
late ready  in  the  morning.' 


390  mNBTBENTM  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

"This  greatly  surprised  me,  so  that  without  replying  to  her 
question,  I  asked  her  name;  she  said,  'My  name  is  Mary.'  'Mary, 
then,'  said  I,  'for  heaven's  sake  tell  me  whether  I  am  brought 
here  to  die  or  not?'  'I  have  told  you  already,'  replied  she,  'that 
you  came  here  to  be  one  of  the  happiest  ladies  in  the  world.' 

"We  went  to  bed,  but  the  fear  of  death  prevented  me  from 
sleeping  the  whole  night;  Mary  waked;  she  was  surprised  to  find 
me  up,  but  she  soon  rose,  and  after  leaving  me  for  about  half 
an  hour,  she  brought  in  two  cups  of  chocolate  and  some  biscuit 
on  a  silver  plate. 

"I  drank  one  cup  of  chocolate,  and  desired  her  to  drink  the 
other,  which  she  did.  When  we  had  done,  I  said,  'Well,  Mary, 
can  you  give  me  any  account  of  the  reasons  for  my  being  brought 
here  ?'  To  which  she  answered,  'Not  yet,  madam,  you  must  have 
patience,'  and  immediately  slipped  out  of  the  room. 

"About  half  an  hour  after,  she  brought  a  great  quantity  of 
elegant  clothes,  suitable  to  a  lady  of  the  highest  rank,  and  told 
me  I  must  dress  myself.  Among  several  trinkets  which  accom- 
panied the  clothes  I  observed  with  surprise  a  snuff-box,  in  the 
lid  of  which  was  a  picture  of  Don  Francisco  Tirregon.  This 
unraveled  to  me  the  mystery  of  my  confinement,  and  at  the  same 
time  roused  my  imagination  to  contrive  how  to  evade  receiving 
the  present.  If  I  absolutely  refused  it,  I  thought  immediate 
death  must  ensue;  and  to  accept  it,  was  giving  him  too  much 
encouragement  against  my  honor.  At  length  I  hit  upon  a 
medium,  and  said  to  Mary,  'Pray  present  my  respects  to  Don 
Francisco  Tirregon,  and  tell  him  that,  as  I  could  not  bring  my 
clothes  along  with  me  last  night,  modesty  permits  me  to  accept 
of  these  garments,  which  are  requisite  to  keep  me  decent;  but 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  391 

Since  I  do  not  take  snuff,  I  hope  his  lordship  will  excuse  me  in 
not  accepting  his  box.' 

"Mary  went  with  my  answer,  and  soon  returned  with  Don 
Francisco's  portrait  elegantly  set  in  gold,  and  richly  embellished 
with  diamonds.  This  message  accompanied  it :  'That  his  lord- 
ship had  made  a  mistake ;  his  intent  not  being  to  send  me  a  snuff- 
box, but  his  portrait.'  I  was  at  a  great  loss  what  to  do,  when 
Mary  said:  Tray,  madam,  take  my  poor  advice;  accept  of  the 
portrait,  and  everything  else  that  his  lordship  sends  you;  for  if 
you  do  not,  he  can  compel  you  to  do  what  he  pleases,  and  put 
you  to  death  when  he  thinks  proper,  without  anybody  being  able 
to  defend  you.  But  if  you  are  obliging  to  him,'  continued  she, 
'he  will  be  very  kind,  and  you  will  be  as  happy  as  a  queen;  you 
will  have  elegant  apartments  to  live  in,  beautiful  gardens  to 
range  in,  and  agreeable  ladies  to  visit  you;  therefore,  I  advise 
you  to  send  a  civil  answer,  or  even  not  to  deny  a  visit  from  his 
lordship,  or  perhaps  you  may  repent  of  your  disrespect.' 

"  'O,  my  God !'  exclaimed  I,  'must  I  sacrifice  my  honor  to 
my  fears  and  give  up  my  virtue  to  his  despotic  power?  Alas! 
what  can  I  do  ?  To  resist  is  vain.  If  I  oppose  his  desires,  force 
will  obtain  what  chastity  refuses.'  I  now  fell  into  the  greatest 
agonies,  and  told  Mary  to  return  what  answer  she  thought 
proper. 

"She  said  she  was  glad  of  my  humble  submission,  and  ran 
to  acquaint  Don  Francisco  with  it.  In  a  few  minutes  she  re- 
turned, with  joy  in  her  countenance,  telling  me  his  lordship 
vrould  honor  me  with  his  company  to  supper.  'And  now  give 
me  leave,  madam,'  said  she,  'to  call  you  mistress,  for  I  am  to 
wait  upon  you.    I  have  been  in  a  holy  office  fourteen  years,  and 


392  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

know  all  the  customs  perfectly  well;  but  as  silence  is  imposed 
upon  me,  under  pain  of  death,  I  can  only  answer  such  questions 
as  immediately  relate  to  your  own  person.  But  I  would  advise 
you  never  to  oppose  the  holy  father's  will;  or  if  you  see  any 
young  ladies  about,  never  ask  them  any  questions.  You  may 
divert  yourself  sometimes  among  them,  but  must  never  tell  them 
anything;  three  days  hence  you  will  dine  with  them;  and  at  all 
times  you  may  have  music  and  other  recreations.  In  fine,  you 
will  be  so  happy,  that  you  will  not  wish  to  go  abroad;  and  when 
your  time  is  expired,  the  holy  fathers  will  send  you  out  of  this 
country  and  marry  you  to  some  noblemxan.'  After  saying  these 
words  she  left  me,  overwhelmed  with  astonishment,  and  scarce 
knowing  what  to  think.  As  soon  as  I  recovered  myself,  I  began 
to  look  about  and  finding  a  closet,  I  opened  it,  and  perceived  that 
it  was  filled  with  books.  They  v/ere  chiefly  upon  historical  and 
profane  subjects,  but  not  any  on  religious  matter.  I  chose  out 
a  book  of  history,  and  so  passed  the  interval  with  some  degree 
of  satisfaction  till  dinner  time. 

"The  dinner  was  served  up  with  the  greatest  elegance,  and 
consisted  of  all  that  could  gratify  the  most  luxurious  appetite. 
When  dinner  was  over,  Mary  left  me  and  told  me  if  I  wanted 
anything  I  might  ring  a  bell,  which  she  pointed  out  to  me. 

"I  read  a  book  to  amuse  myself  during  the  afternoon,  and  at 
seven  in  the  evening,  Don  Francisco  came  to  visit  me  in  his  night- 
gown and  cap,  not  with  the  gravity  of  an  inquisitor,  but  with  the 
gaiety  of  a  gallant. 

"He  saluted  me  with  great  respect,  and  told  me  that  he  came 
to  see  me  in  order  to  show  the  great  respect  he  had  for  my  fam- 
ily, and  to  inform  me  that  it  was  my  lovers  who  had  procured 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  393 

my  confinement,  having  accused  me  in  matters  of  religion;  and 
that  the  informations  were  taken,  and  the  sentence  pronounced 
against  me,  to  be  burnt  in  a  dry  pan,  with  a  gradual  fire;  but  that 
he,  out  of  pity  and  love  to  my  family,  had  stopped  the  execution 
of  it. 

"These  words  were  like  daggers  to  my  heart.  I  dropped 
at  his  feet,  and  said,  *Ah,  my  lord !  have  you  stopped  the  execu- 
tion forever?'  He  replied,  'That  belongs  to  yourself  only,'  and 
abruptly  wished  me  good  night. 

"As  soon  as  he  was  gone  I  burst  into  tears,  when  Mary 
came  and  asked  me  what  could  make  me  cry  so  bitterly.  To 
which  I  answered,  'Oh,  Mary!  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  dry 
pan  and  gradual  fire,  for  I  am  to  die  by  them  ?' 

"  'Madam,'  said  she,  'never  fear;  you  shall  see  ere  long  the 
dry  pan  and  gradual  fire;  but  they  are  made  for  those  who  op- 
pose the  holy  father's  will,  not  for  you  who  are  so  good  as  to 
obey  it.  But  pray,'  says  she,  'was  Don  Francisco  very  obliging  ?' 
'I  don't  know,'  said  I,  'for  he  frightened  me  out  of  my  wits  by 
his  discourse;  he  saluted  me  with  civility,  but  left  me  abruptly.' 

"  'Well,'  said  Mary,  'you  do  not  yet  know  his  temper;  he  is 
extremxcly  obliging  to  them  that  are  kind  to  him;  but  if  they  are 
disobedient  he  is  unmerciful  as  Nero ;  so,  for  your  own  sake,  take 
care  to  oblige  him  in  all  respects;  and  nov/,  dear  madam,  pray 
go  to  supper,  and  be  easy.'  I  went  to  supper,  indeed,  and  after- 
ward to  bed ;  but  I  could  neither  eat  nor  sleep,  for  the  thoughts 
of  the  dry  pan  and  gradual  fire  deprived  me  of  appetite  and  ban- 
ished drowsiness. 

"Early  the  next  morning  Mary  said  that  as  nobody  was 
stirring,  if  I  would  promise  her  secrecy,  she  would  show  me  the 


394  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

dry  pan  and  gradual  fire;  so  taking  me  down  stairs  she  brought 
me  to  a  large  room,  with  a  thick  iron  door,  which  she  opened. 
Within  it  wa.s  an  oven,  with  fire  in  it  at  the  time,  and  a  large 
brass  upon  it,  with  a  cover  of  the  same,  and  a  lock  to  it.  In  the 
next  room  there  was  a  great  wheel,  covered  on  both  sides  with 
thick  boards,  opening  a  little  window  in  the  center.  Mary  de- 
sired me  to  look  in  with  a  candle.  There  I  saw  the  circumference 
of  the  wheel  set  Vv^ith  sharp  razors,  which  made  me  shudder. 

"She  then  took  me  to  a  pit,  which  was  full  of  venomous  ani- 
mals. On  my  expressing  great  horror  at  the  sight,  she  said: 
'Now,  my  good  mistress,  I'll  tell  you  the  use  of  these  things. 
The  dry  pan  is  for  heretics,  and  those  who  oppose  the  holy 
father's  will  and  pleasure;  they  are  put  alive  into  the  pan,  being 
first  stripped  naked;  and  the  cover  being  locked  down,  the  exe- 
cutioner begins  to  put  a  small  fire  into  the  oven,  and  by  degrees 
he  augments  it,  till  the  body  is  reduced  to  ashes.  The  wheel  is 
designed  for  those  who  speak  against  the  Pope,  or  the  holy 
fathers  of  the  inquisition;  for  they  are  put  into  the  machine 
through  the  little  wheel,  which  is  locked  after  them,  and  then 
the  wheel  is  turned  swiftly,  till  they  are  cut  to  pieces.  The  pit 
is  for  those  who  contemn  the  images,  and  refuse  to  give  proper 
respect  to  ecclesiastical  persons;  for  they  are  thrown  into  the  pit 
r.nd  so  become  the  food  of  poisonous  animals. 

"We  went  back  again  to  my  chamber,  and  Mary  said  that 
another  day  she  would  show  me  the  torments  designed  for  other 
transgressors,  but  I  was  in  such  agonies  at  what  I  had  seen  that 
I  begged  to  be  terrified  with  no  more  such  sights.  She  soon  after 
left  me,  but  not  without  enjoining  my  strict  obedience  to  Don 
Francisco;  'for  if  you  do  not  comply  with  his  will,'  said  she,  'the 
idry  pan  and  gradual  fire  will  be  your  fate.' 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  395 

''The  horrors  which  the  sight  of  these  things,  and  Mary's 
expressions,  impressed  on  my  mind,  almost  bereaved  me  of  my 
senses,  and  left  me  in  such  a  state  of  stupefaction  that  I  seemed  to 
have  no  manner  of  will  of  my  own, 

"The  next  morning  Mary  said,  'Now  let  me  dress  you  as 
nice  as  possible,  for  you  must  go  and  wish  Don  Francisco  good- 
morrow,  and  breakfast  with  him.'  When  I  was  dressed,  she  con- 
veyed me  through  a  gallery  into  his  apartment,  where  I  found 
that  he  was  in  bed.  He  ordered  Mary  to  withdraw,  and  to  serve 
up  breakfast  in  about  two  hours'  time.  When  Mary  was  gone, 
he  commanded  me  to  undress  myself  and  come  to  bed  to  him. 
The  manner  in  which  he  spoke,  and  the  dreadful  ideas  with  which 
my  mind  was  filled,  so  terribly  frightened  me  that  I  pulled  off 
my  clothes,  without  knowing  what  I  did,  and  stepped  into  bed, 
insensible  of  the  indecency  I  was  transacting;  so  totally  had  the 
care  of  self-preservation  absorbed  all  my  other  thoughts  and  so 
entirely  were  the  ideas  of  delicacy  obliterated  by  the  force  of 
terror. 

"Thus,  to  avoid  the  dry  pan,  did  I  entail  upon  myself  per- 
petual infamy;  and  to  escape  the  so  much  dreaded  gradual  fire, 
gave  myself  up  to  the  flames  of  lust.  Wretched  alternative,  where 
the  only  choice  is  an  excruciating  death,  or  everlasting  pollution ! 

"Mary  came  at  the  expiration  of  two  hours,  and  served  us 
with  chocolate  in  the  most  submissive  manner;  for  she  kneeled 
down  by  the  bedside  to  present  it.  When  I  was  dressed,  Mary 
took  me  into  a  very  delightful  apartment,  which  I  had  never  yet 
seen.  It  was  furnished  with  the  most  costly  elegance ;  but  what 
gave  me  the  greatest  astonishment  was  the  prospect  from  its  win- 
do^vs  of  a  beautiful  garden,  and  a  fine  meandering  river.    Mary 


396  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 


told  me  that  the  young  ladies  she  had  mentioned  would  come  to 
pay  their  compliments  to  me  before  dinner,  and  begged  me  to  re- 
member her  advice  in  keeping  a  prudent  guard  over  my  tongue, 

"In  a  few  minutes  a  great  number  of  very  beautiful  young 
ladies,  richly  dressed,  entered  my  room,  and  successivel}^  embrac- 
ing m^e  wished  m.e  joy.  I  v/as  so  surprised  that  I  was  unable  to 
answer  their  compliments,  v/hich  one  of  the  ladies  perceiving, 
said,  'Madam,  the  solitude  of  this  place  will  affect  you  in  the 
beginning,  but  wlienever  you  begin  to  feel  the  pleasures  and 
amusement  you  may  enjoy,  you  will  quit  those  pensive  thoughts. 
We,  at  present,  beg  the  honor  of  you  to  dine  with  us  to-day,  and 
henceforward  three  days  in  a  week.'  I  returned  them  suitable 
thanks  in  general  terms,  and  so  went  to  dinner,  in  which  the  most 
exquisite  and  savory  dishes,  of  various  kinds,  were  served  up 
with  the  most  delicate  and  pleasant  fruits  and  sweetmeats.  The 
room  was  long,  with  two  tables  on  each  side,  and  a  third  in  the 
front.  I  reckoned  fifty-two  young  ladies,  the  eldest  not  exceed- 
ing twenty-four  years  of  age.  There  were  five  maid  servants 
besides  Mary  to  wait  upon  us;  but  Mary  confined  her  attention 
to  me  alone.  After  dinner  we  retired  to  a  capacious  gallery, 
Vv'here  they  played  on  musical  instruments,  a  few  diverted  them- 
selves with  cards,  and  the  rest  amused  themselves  with  walking 
about.  Mary,  at  length,  entered  the  gallery,  and  said,  'Ladies, 
this  is  a  day  of  recreation  and  so  you  may  go  into  whatever  rooms 
you  please  till  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.' 

"They  unanimously  agreed  to  adjourn  to  my  apartment. 
Here  we  found  a  most  elegant  cold  collation,  of  which  all  the 
ladies  partook,  and  passed  the  time  in  innocent  conversation  and 
harmless  mirth;  but  none  mentioned  a  word  concerning  the  in- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  S9t 


quisition,  or  the  holy  fathers,  or  gave  the  least  distant  hint  con- 
cerning the  cause  of  their  confinement. 

''At  eight  o'clock  Mary  rang  a  bell,  which  was  a  signal  for 
all  to  retire  to  their  respective  apartments,  and  I  was  conducted 
to  the  chamber  of  Don  Francisco,  where  I  slept.  The  next  morn- 
ing Mary  brought  me  a  richer  dress  than  any  I  had  yet  had;  and 
as  soon  as  I  retired  to  my  apartment,  all  the  ladies  came  to  wish 
me  good-morning,  dressed  much  richer  than  the  preceding  day. 
We  passed  the  time  till  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  much  the 
same  manner  as  we  had  done  the  day  before.  At  that  time  the 
bell  rang,  the  separation  took  place,  and  I  was  conducted  to  Don 
Francisco's  chamber.  The  next  morning  I  had  a  garment  richer 
than  the  last,  and  they  accosted  me  in  apparel  still  more  sumptu- 
ous than  before.  The  transactions  of  the  two  former  days  were 
repeated  on  the  third,  and  the  evening  concluded  in  a  similar 
manner. 

"On  the  fourth  morning  Mary  came  into  Don  Francisco's 
chamber  and  told  me  I  must  immediately  arise,  for  a  lady  wanted 
me  in  her  own  chamber.  She  spoke  with  a  kind  of  authority 
which  surprised  me;  but  as  Don  Francisco  did  not  speak  a  sylla- 
ble, I  got  up  and  obeyed.  Mary  then  conveyed  me  into  a  dismal 
dungeon,  not  eight  feet  in  length ;  and  said  sternly  to  me :  'This 
is  your  room,  and  this  lady  your  bed-fellow  and  companion.*  At 
which  words  she  bounced  out  of  the  room  and  left  me  in  the  ut- 
most consternation. 

"After  remaining  a  considerable  time  in  the  most  dreadful 
agonies  tears  came  to  my  relief,  and  I  exclaimed :  'What  is  this 
place,  dear  lady !  Is  it  a  scene  of  enchantment,  or  is  it  a  hell  upon 
earth  ?    Alas,  I  have  lost  my  honor  and  my  soul  forever !' 


Protestant  Missionaries  and  their  families  suffering  untold  miseries 
at  the  hands  of  Catholic  officials. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  399 


"The  lady  took  me  by  the  hand  and  said  in  a  sympathizing 
tone  of  voice:  'Dear  sister  (for  this  is  the  name  I  shall  hence- 
forth give  you),  forbear  to  cry  and  grieve,  for  you  can  do  noth- 
ing by  such  an  extravagant  behavior,  but  draw  upon  yourself 
a  cruel  death.  Your  misfortunes,  and  those  of  all  the  ladies  you 
have  seen,  are  exactly  of  a  piece;  you  suffer  nothing  but  what  we 
have  suffered  before  you;  but  we  dare  not  show  our  grief,  for 
fear  of  greater  evils.  Pray  take  courage,  and  hope  in  God,  for 
He  will  surely  deliver  us  from  this  hellish  place;  but  be  sure  you 
discover  no  uneasiness  before  Mary,  who  is  the  only  instrument 
either  of  our  torments  or  comfort.  Have  patience  until  we  go 
to  bed,  and  then  I  will  venture  to  tell  you  more  of  the  matter.' 

"My  perplexity  and  vexation  were  inexpressible;  but  my 
new  companion,  whose  name  was  Leonora,  prevailed  on  me  to 
disguise  my  uneasiness  from  Mary.  I  dissembled  tolerably  well 
when  she  came  to  bring  our  dinners,  but  could  not  help  remark- 
ing, in  my  own  mind,  the  difference  between  this  repast  and  those 
I  had  before  partook  of.  This  consisted  only  of  plain,  common 
food,  and  of  that  a  scanty  allowance,  with  one  plate,  and  one 
knife  and  fork  for  us  both,  which  she  took  away  as  soon  as  we 
had  dined. 

"When  we  were  in  bed,  Leonora  was  as  good  as  her  word, 
and  upon  my  solemn  promise  of  secrecy  thus  began  to  open  her 
mind  to  me : 

"  'My  dear  sister,  you  think  your  case  very  hard,  but  I  as- 
sure you  all  the  ladies  in  the  house  have  gone  through  the  same. 
In  time,  you  will  know  all  their  stories,  as  they  hope  to  know 
yours.  I  suppose  Mary  has  been  the  chief  instrument  of  your 
fright,  as  she  has  been  of  ours ;  and  I  warrant  she  has  shown  you 


400  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


some  horrible  places,  though  not  all;  and  that,  at  the  very  thought 
of  them  you  were  so  terrified  that  you  chose  the  same  way  we 
have  done  to  redeem  yourself  from  death.  By  what  hath  hap- 
pened to  us,  we  know  that  Don  Francisco  hath  been  your  Nero, 
your  tyrant;  for  the  three  colors  of  our  clothes  are  the  distin- 
guishing tokens  of  the  three  holy  fathers.  The  red  silk  belongs 
to  Don  Francisco,  the  blue  to  Don  Guerrero,  and  the  green  to 
Don  Aliga;  and  they  ahvays  give  those  colors  (after  the  farce 
of  changing  garments  and  the  short-lived  recreations  are  over) 
to  those  ladles  whom  they  bring  here  for  their  respective  uses. 

"  'We  are  strictly  commanded  to  express  all  the  demonstra- 
tions of  joy,  and  to  be  very  merry  for  three  days,  when  a  young 
lady  first  comes  amongst  us,  as  we  did  with  you,  and  as  you  must 
now  do  with  others.  But  afterward  we  live  like  the  most 
wretched  prisoners,  without  seeing  anybody  but  Mary,  and  the 
other  maid  servants,  over  whom  Mary  hath  a  kind  of  superiority, 
for  she  acts  as  housekeeper.  We  all  dine  in  the  great  hall  three 
days  in  a  week;  and  when  anyone  of  the  inquisitors  hath  a  mind 
for  one  of  his  slaves,  Mary  comes  about  nine  o'clock  and  leads 
her  to  his  apartment. 

"  'Some  nights  Mary  leaves  the  doors  of  our  chambers  open, 
and  that  is  a  token  that  one  of  the  inquisitors  hath  a  mind  to 
come  that  night;  but  he  comes  so  silent  that  we  are  ignorant 
whether  he  is  our  patron  or  not.  If  one  of  us  happens  to  be  with 
child,  she  is  removed  into  a  better  chamber  till  she  is  delivered; 
but  during  the  whole  of  her  pregnancy,  she  never  sees  anybody 
but  the  person  appointed  to  attend  her. 

"  'As  soon  as  the  child  is  born  it  is  taken  away,  and  carried 
v/e  know  not  whither;  for  we  never  hear  a  syllable  mentioned 


NINETEENTH  CENTVRV  DEEDS  OP  ROMANISM.  401 


about  it  afterward.  I  have  been  in  this  house  six  years,  was  not 
fourteen  when  the  officers  took  me  from  my  father's  house,  and 
have  had  one  child.  There  are,  at  this  present  time,  fifty-two 
3-oung  ladies  in  the  house;  but  we  annually  lose  six  or  eight, 
though  we  know  not  what  becomes  of  them,  or  whither  they  are 
sent.  This,  however,  does  not  diminish  our  number,  for  new 
ones  are  always  brought  in  to  supply  the  place  of  those  who  are 
removed  from  hence;  and  I  remember,  at  one  time,  to  have  seen 
seventy-three  ladies  here  together.  Our  continual  torment  is  to 
reflect  that  when  they  are  tired  of  any  of  the  ladies,  they  certainly 
put  to  death  those  they  pretend  to  send  away,  for  it  is  natural  to 
think,  that  they  have  too  much  policy  to  suffer  their  atrocious 
and  infernal  villainies  to  be  discovered  by  enlarging  them. 
Hence  our  situation  is  miserable  indeed,  and  we  have  only  to 
pray  that  the  Almighty  will  pardon  those  crimes  which  we  are 
compelled  to  commit.  Therefore,  my  dear  sister,  arm  yourself 
with  patience,  for  that  is  the  only  palliative  to  give  you  comfort, 
and  put  a  firm  confidence  in  the'providence  of  Almighty  God.' 

"This  discourse  of  Leonora  greatly  aiYected  me;  but  I  found 
everything  to  be  as  she  told  me,  in  the  course  of  time,  and  I  took 
care  to  appear  as  cheerful  as  possible  before  Mary.  In  this  man- 
ner I  continued  eighteen  months,  during  which  time  eleven  ladies 
were  taken  from  the  house;  but  in  lieu  of  them  we  got  nineteen 
new  ones,  which  made  our  number  just  sixty  at  the  time  we  were 
so  happily  relieved  by  the  French  officers,  and  providentially  re- 
stored to  the  joys  of  society,  and  to  the  arms  of  our  parents  and 
friends.  On  that  happy  day,  the  door  of  my  dungeon  was  opened 
by  the  gentleman  who  is  now  my  husband,  and  who  with  the 
utmost  expedition,  sent  both  Leonora  and  me  to  his  father's; 

(26) 


402  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

and  (soon  after  the  campaign  was  over)  when  he  returned  home, 
he  thought  proper  to  make  me  his  wife,  in  which  situation  I  enjoy 
a  recompense  for  all  the  miseries  I  before  suffered." 

From  the  foregoing  narrative  it  is  evident  that  the  inquisi- 
tors are  a  set  of  libidinous  villains,  lost  to  every  just  idea  of  re- 
ligion, and  totally  destitute  of  humanity.  Those  who  possess 
wealth,  beauty,  or  liberal  sentiments,  are  sure  to  find  enemies  in 
them.  Avarice,  lust  and  prejudice  are  their  ruling  passions;  and 
they  sacrifice  every  law,  human  and  divine,  to  gratify  their  pre- 
dominant desire.  Their  supposed  piety  is  affectation;  their  pre- 
tended compassion  hypocrisy;  their  justice  depends  on  their  will; 
and  their  equitable  punishments  are  founded  on  their  prejudices. 
None  are  secure  from  them,  all  ranks  fall  equally  victims  to  their 
pride,  their  power,  their  avarice  or  their  aversion. 

Some  may  suggest  that  it  is  strange  crowned  heads  and 
eminent  ndbles  have  not  attempted  to  crush  the  power  of  the  in- 
quisition, and  reduce  the  authority  of  those  ecclesiastical  tyrants, 
from  whose  merciless  fangs  neither  their  familes  nor  themselves 
are  secure. 

But  astonishing  as  it  is,  superstition  hath,  in  tiiis  case,  al- 
ways overcome  common  sense,  and  custom  operated  against  rea- 
son. One  prince,  indeed,  intended  to  abolish  the  inquisition,  but 
he  lost  his  life  before  he  became  king,  and  consequently  before 
he  had  the  power  so  to  do;  for  the  very  intimation  of  his  design 
procured  his  destruction. 

This  was  that  amiable  prince  Don  Carlos,  son  of  Philip  the 
Second,  King  of  Spain,  and  grandson  of  the  celebrated  Emperor 
Charles  V.  Don  Carlos  possessed  all  the  good  qualities  of  his 
grandfather  without  any  of  the  bad  ones  of  his  father;  and  was 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  403 

a  prince  of  great  vivacity,  admirable  learning,  and  the  most 
amiable  disposition.  He  had  sense  enough  to  see  into  the  errors 
of  popery,  and  abhorred  the  very  name  of  the  inquisition.  He 
inveighed  publicly  against  the  institution,  ridiculed  the  affected 
piety  of  the  inquisitors,  did  all  he  could  to  expose  their  atrocious 
deeds,  and  even  declared  that  if  he  ever  came  to  the  crown,  he 
would  abolish  the  inquisition,  and  exterminate  its  agents. 

These  things  were  sufficient  to  irritate  the  inquisitors  against 
the  prince ;  they,  accordingly,  bent  their  minds  to  vengeance,  and 
determined  on  his  destruction. 

The  inquisitors  now  employed  all  their  agents  and  emissaries 
(to  spread  abroad  the  most  artful  insinuations  against  the  prince; 
and,  at  length,  raised  such  a  spirit  of  discontent  among  the  peo- 
ple that  the  king  was  under  the  necessity  of  removing  Don 
Carlos  from  court.  Not  content  with  this,  they  pursued  even  his 
friends,  and  obliged  the  king  likewise  to  banish  Don  John,  Duke 
of  Austria,  his  own  brother,  and  consequently  uncle  to  the  prince ; 
together  with  the  prince  of  Parma,  nephew  to  the  king,  and 
cousin  to  the  prince,  because  they  well  knew  that  both  the  Duke 
of  Austria,  and  the  Prince  of  Parma,  had  a  most  sincere  and 
inviolable  attachment  to  Don  Carlos. 

Some  few  years  after,  the  prince  having  shown  great  lenity 
and  favor  to  the  protestants  in  the  Netherlands,  the  inquisition 
loudly  exclaimed  against  him,  declaring  that  as  the  persons  in 
question  were  heretics,  the  prince  himself  must  necessarily  be 
one,  since  he  gave  them  countenance.  In  short,  they  gained  so 
great  an  ascendency  over  the  mind  of  the  king,  who  was  abso- 
lutely a  slave  to  superstition,  that,  shocking  to  relate,  he  sacri- 
ficed the  feelngs  of  nature  to  the  force  of  bigotry,  and,  for  fear 


404  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

of  incurring  the  anger  of  the  inquisition,  gave  up  his  only  son, 
passing  the  sentence  of  death  on  him  himself. 

The  prince,  indeed,  had  what  was  termed  an  indulgence; 
that  is,  he  was  permitted  to  choose  the  manner  of  his  death. 
Roman  like,  the  unfortunate  young  hero  chose  bleeding  and  the 
hot  bath;  when  the  veins  of  his  arms  and  legs  being  opened,  he 
expired  gradually,  falling  a  martyr  to  the  malice  of  the  inquisi- 
tors, and  the  stupid  bigotry  of  his  father. 

Dr.  -^gidio  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Alcala,  where 
he  took  his  several  degrees,  and  particularly  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  sacred  scriptures  and  school  divinity.  The  pro- 
fessor of  theology  dying,  he  was  elected  into  his  place,  and  acted 
so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  everyone,  that  his  reputation  for 
learning  and  piety  was  circulated  throughout  Europe. 

yEgidio,  however,  had  his  enemies,  and  these  laid  a  com- 
plaint against  him  to  the  inquisitors,  who  sent  him  a  citation,  and 
v/hen  he  appeared  to  it,  cast  him  into  a  dungeon. 

As  the  greatest  part  of  those  who  belonged  to  the  cathedral 
church  at  Seville,  and  many  persons  belonging  to  the  bishopric 
of  Dortois  highly  approved  of  the  doctrines  of  ^gidio,  which 
they  thought  perfectly  consonant  with  true  religion,  they  peti- 
tioned the  Emperor  in  his  behalf.  Though  the  monarch  had 
been  educated  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  had  too  much  sense  to  be  a 
bigot,  and  therefore  sent  an  immediate  order  for  his  enlargement. 

^gidio  soon  after  visited  the  church  of  Valladolid,  did 
everything  he  could  to  promote  the  cause  of  religion,  and  return- 
ing home  he  soon  after  fell  sick,  and  died  in  an  extreme  old  age. 

The  inquisitors  having  been  disappointed  of  gratifying  their 
malice  against  him  while  living,  determined  (as  the  Emperor's 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  405 

whole  thoughts  were  engrossed  by  a  military  expedition)  to 
wreak  their  vengeance  on  him  when  dead.  Therefore,  soon  after 
he  was  buried,  they  ordered  his  remains  to  be  dug  out  of  the 
grave;  and  a  legal  process  being  carried  on,  they  were  condemned 
to  be  burnt,  which  was  executed  accordingly. 

Dr.  Constantine,  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  the  already 
mentioned  Dr.  ^^gidio,  was  a  man  of  uncommon  natural  abilities 
and  profound  learning;  exclusive  of  several  modern  tongues,  he 
was  acquainted  with  the  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages, 
and  perfectly  well  knew  not  only  the  sciences  called  abstruse,  but 
those  arts  w^hich  come  under  the  denomination  of  polite  literature. 

His  eloquence  rendered  him  pleasing,  and  the  soundness  of 
his  doctrines  a  profitable  preacher;  and  he  was  so  popular,  that 
he  never  preached  but  to  a  crowded  audience.  He  had  many 
opportunities  of  rising  in  the  church,  but  never  would  take  ad- 
vantage of  them ;  for  if  a  living  of  greater  value  than  his  own  was 
offered  him,  he  would  refuse  it,  saying,  I  am  content  with  what 
I  have;  and  he  frequently  preached  so  forcibly  against  simony, 
tliat  many  of  his  superiors,  who  were  not  so  delicate  upon  the 
subject,  took  umbrage  at  his  doctrine  upon  that  head. 

Having  been  fully  confirmed  in  Protestantism  byDr.^gidio, 
he  preached  boldly  such  doctrines  only  as  were  agreeable  to  gos- 
pel purity,  and  uncontam5nated  by  the  errors  which  had  at  var- 
ious times  crept  into  the  Romish  church.  For  these  reasons  he 
had  many  enemies  among  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  some  of 
them  were  fully  determined  on  his  destruction. 

A  worthy  gentleman  named  Scobaria,  having  erected  a 
school  for  divinity  lectures,  appointed  Dr.  Constantine  to  be 
reader  therein.    He  immediately  undertook  the  task,  and  read 


406  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

lectures,  by  portions,  on  the  proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and  Canti- 
cles; and.  was  beginning  to  expound  the  book  of  Job,  when  he 
was  seized  by  the  inquisitors. 

Being  brought  to  examination,  he  answered  with  such  pre- 
caution that  they  could  not  find  any  explicit  charge  against  him, 
but  remained  doubtful  in  what  manner  to  proceed,  when  the 
following  circumstances  occured  to  determine  them : 

Dr.  Constantine  had  deposited  with  a  woman  named  Isa- 
bella Martin  several  books,  which  to  him  were  very  valuable,  but 
which  he  knew,  in  the  eyes  of  the  inquisition,  were  exceptiona- 
ble. 

This  woman  having  been  informed  against  as  a  Protestant, 
was  apprehended,  and,  after  a  small  process,  her  goods  were  or- 
dered to  be  confiscated.  Previous,  however,  to  the  officers  com- 
ing to  her  house,  the  woman's  son  had  removed  away  several 
chests  full  of  the  most  valuable  articles ;  and  among  these  were 
Dr.  Constantine's  books. 

A  treacherous  servant  giving  intelligence  of  this  to  the  in- 
quisitors, an  officer  was  despatched  to  the  son  to  demand  the 
chests.  The  son,  supposing  the  officer  only  came  for  Constan- 
tine's books,  said,  I  know  v/hat  you  come  for,  and  I  will  fetch 
them  to  you  immediately.  He  then  fetched  Dr.  Constantine's 
books  and  papers,  when  the  officer  was  greatly  surprised  to  find 
what  he  did  not  look  for.  He,  however,  told  the  young  man, 
that  he  was  glad  these  books  and  papers  were  produced,  but 
nevertheless  he  must  fulfill  the  end  of  his  commission,  which  was, 
to  carry  him  and  the  goods  he  had  embezzled  before  the  inquisi- 
tors, which  he  did  accordingly;  for  the  young  man  knew  it  would 
be  in  vain  to  e5q>ostulate,  or  resist,  and  therefore  quietly  sub- 
mitted to  his  fate. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  407 


The  inquisitors  being  thus  possessed  of  Constantine's  books 
and  writings,  now  found  matter  sufficient  to  form  charges  against 
him.  When  he  was  brought  to  a  re-examination,  they  presented 
one  of  his  papers,  and  asked  him  if  he  knew  the  handwriting? 
Perceiving  it  was  his  own,  he  guessed  the  whole  matter,  con- 
fessed the  writing,  and  justified  the  doctrine  it  contained :  saying, 
"In  that,  and  all  my  other  writings,  I  have  never  departed  from 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  but  have  always  kept  in  view  the  pure 
precepts  of  Christ,  as  he  delivered  them  to  mankind." 

After  being,  detained  upv/ards  of  two  years  in  prison,  Dr. 
Constantine  was  seized  with  a  bloody  flux,  which  put  an  end  to 
his  miseries  in  this  world.  The  process,  however,  was  carried 
on  against  his  body,  which,  at  the  ensuing  auto  de  fe,  was  pub- 
licly burnt. 

William  Gardiner  v/as  born  at  Bristol,  received  a  tolerable 
education,  and  was,  at  a  proper  age,  placed  under  the  care  of  a 
merchant,  named  Paget. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-six  years,  he  was,  by  his  master,  sent 
to  Lisbon,  to  act  as  factor.  Here  he  applied  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  Portuguese  language,  executed  his  business  with  assiduity 
and  dispatch,  and  behaved  with  the  most  engaging  affability  to 
all  persons  with  whom  he  had  the  least  concern.  He  conversed 
privately  with  a  few,  whom  he  knew  to  be  zealous  Protestants; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  cautiously  avoided  giving  the  least  offense 
to  any  v/ho  were  Roman  Catholics ;  he  had  not,  however,  hitherto 
gone  into  any  of  the  popish  churches. 

A  marriage  being  concluded  between  the  king  of  Portugal's 
son,  and  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  upon  the  wedding-day  the  bride- 
groom, bride,  and  the  whole  court  went  to  the  Cathedral  Church, 


408  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


attended  by  multitudes  of  all  ranks  of  people,  and  among  the  rest 
William  Gardiner  who  stayed  during  the  whole  ceremony,  and 
was  greatly  shocked  at  the  superstitions  he  saw. 

The  erroneous  worship  which  he  had  seen  ran  strongly  in 
his  mind;  he  was  miserable  to  see  a  whole  country  sunk  into  such 
idolatry,  when  the  truth  of  the  gospel  might  be  so  easily  ob- 
tained. He,  therefore,  took  the  inconsiderate,  though  laudable 
design,  into  his  head,  of  making  a  reform  in  Portugal,  or  per- 
ishing in  the  attempt;  and  determined  to  sacrifice  his  prudence 
to  his  zeal,  though  he  became  a  martyr  upon  the  occasion. 

To  this  end,  he  settled  all  his  worldly  affairs,  paid  his  debts, 
closed  his  books,  and  consigned  over  his  mxCrchandise.  On  the 
ensuing  Sunday  he  went  again  to  the  Cathedral  Church,  with  a 
New  Testament  in  his  hand,  and  placed  himself  near  the  altar. 

The  king  and  the  court  soon  appeared,  and  a  cardinal  began 
mass ;  at  that  part  of  the  ceremony  in  which  the  people  adore  the 
wafer,  Gardiner  could  hold  out  no  longer,  but  springing  toward 
the  cardinal,  he  snatched  the  host  from  him,  and  trampled  it 
under  his  feet. 

This  action  amazed  the  whole  congregation,  and  one  person 
drawing  a  dagger,  wounded  Gardiner  in  the  shoulder,  and  would, 
by  repeating  the  blov/,  have  finished  him,  had  not  the  king  called 
to  him  to  desist. 

Gardiner,  being  carried  before  the  king,  the  monarch  ^sked 
him  w'hat  countryman  he  was :  to  which  he  replied,  I  am  an  Eng- 
lishman by  birth,  a  Protestant  by  religion,  and  a  merchant  by 
occupation. — What  I  have  done  is  not  out  of  contempt  to  your 
royal  person,  God  forbid  it  should,  but  out  of  an  honest  indigna- 
tion, to  see  the  ridiculous  superstitions  and  gross  idolatries  prac- 
ticed here. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  409 

The  king,  thinking  that  he  had  been  stimulated  by  some 
other  person  to  act  as  he  had  done,  demanded  who  was  his  abet- 
tor, to  which  he  repHed :  "My  own  conscience  alone.  I  would  not 
hazard  what  I  have  done  for  any  man  living,  but  I  owe  that  and 
all  other  services  to  God." 

Gardiner  was  sent  to  prison,  and  a  general  order  issued  to 
apprehend  all  Englishmen  in  Lisbon.  This  order  was  in  a  great 
measure  put  into  execution  (some  few  escaping)  and  many  in- 
nocent persons  were  tortured  to  make  them  confess  if  they  knew 
anything  of  the  matter;  in  particular,  a  person  who  resided  in  the 
same  house  with  Gardiner,  was  treated  with  unparalleled  bar- 
barity to  make  him  confess  something  which  might  throw  a  light 
upon  the  affair. 

Gardiner  himself  was  then  tormented  in  the  most  excruciat- 
ing manner;  but  in  the  midst  of  all  his  torments  he  gloried  in  the 
deed.  Being  ordered  for  death,  a  large  fire  was  kindled  near  a 
gibbet,  Gardiner  was  drawn  up  to  the  gibbet  by  pulleys,  and  then 
let  down  near  the  fire,  but  not  so  close  as  to  touch  it;  for  they 
burnt  or  rather  roasted  him  by  slow  degrees.  Yet  he  bore  his 
sufferings,  patiently  and  resigned  his  soul  to  the  Lord  cheer- 
fully. 

It  is  observable  that  some  of  the  sparks  were  blown  from  the 
fire  (which  consumed  Gardiner)  towards  the  haven,  burnt  one 
of  the  king's  ships  of  war,  and  did  other  considerable  damage. 
The  Englishmen  who  were  taken  up  on  this  occasion  were,  soon 
after  Gardiner's  death,  all  discharged,  except  the  person  who 
resided  in  the  same  house  with  him,  who  was  detained  two  years 
before  he  could  procure  his  liberty. 

Of  the  multitudes  who  perished  by  the  inquisition  through- 


410  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


out  the  world,  no  authentic  record  is  now  discoverable.  But 
vvherever  popery  had  power,  there  was  the  tribunal.  It  had  been 
planted  even  in  the  East,  and  the  Portuguese  inquisition  of  Goa 
was,  till  within  these  few  years,  fed  with  many  an  agony.  South 
America  was  partitioned  into  provinces  of  the  inquisition;  and 
with  a  ghastly  mimicry  of  the  crimes  of  the  mother  state,  the 
arrivals  of  viceroys,  and  the  other  popular  celebrations  were 
thought  imperfect  without  an  auto  de  fe.  The  Netherlands  were 
one  scene  of  slaughter  from  the  time  of  the  decree  which  planted 
the  inquisition  among  them.  In  Spain  the  calculation  is  more 
attainable.  Each  of  the  seventeen  tribunals  during  a  long  period 
burned  annually  on  an  average  ten  miserable  beings !  We  are  to 
recollect  that  this  number  wias  in  a  country  where  persecution 
had  for  ages  abolished  all  religious  differences,  and  where  the 
difficulty  was  not  to  find  the  stake,  but  the  offering.  Yet,  even 
in  Spain,  thus  gleaned  of  all  heresy,  the  inquisition  could  still 
swell  its  list  of  murders  to  thirty-two  thousand !  The  numbers 
burned  in  effigy,  or  condemned  to  penance,  punishments  gener- 
ally equivalent  to  exile,  commiseration,  and  taint  of  blood,  to  all 
ruin  but  the  mere  loss  of  worthless  life,  amounted  to  three  hun- 
dred and  nine  thousand.  But  the  crowds  who  perished  in  dun- 
geons, of  the  torture,  of  confinement,  and  of  broken  hearts,  the 
millions  of  dependent  lives  made  utterly  helpless,  or  hurried  to 
the  grave  by  the  death  of  the  victims,  are  beyond  all  register;  or 
recorded  only  before  Him,  who  has  sworn  that  "He  who  leadeth 
into  captivity,  shall  go  into  captivity:  and  he  that  killeth  with 
the  sword  shall  be  killed  by  the  sword." 

Such  was  the  inquisition,  declared  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  be 
at  once  the  offspring  and  the  image  of  the  popedom.    To  feel  the 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  411 

force  of  the  parentage,  we  must  look  to  the  time.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century,  the  popedom  was  at  the  summit  of  mortal  domin- 
ion; it  was  independent  of  all  kingdoms;  it  ruled  with  a  rank  of 
influence  never  before  or  since  possessed  by  a  human  sceptre;  it 
v»-as  the  acknowledged  sovereign  of  body  and  soul;  to  all  earthly 
intents  its  power  was  immeasurable  for  good  or  evil.  It  might 
have  spread  literature,  peace,  freedom,  and  Christianity  to  the 
ends  of  Europe,  or  the  world.  But  its  nature  was  hostile;  its 
fuller  triumph  only  disclosed  its  fuller  evil ;  and,  to  the  shame  of 
human  reason,  and  the  terror  and  suffering  of  human  virtue, 
Rome,  in  the  hour  of  its  consummate  grandeur,  teemed  with  the 
monstrous  and  horrid  birth  of  the  inquisition  ! 


Four  Protestants  hung  for  refusing  to  kiss  the  hand  of  a  priest. 


Chapter  XXIV. 


Why  a  President  of  tlie  United  States  Should  Not 

Treat  with  Pope  Leo  nor  Any  Other 

Catholic  Dignitary. 


In  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish- American  War,  of  course  it 
was  to  be  supposed  that  the  representatives  of  other  nations  were 
to  be  consulted  as  regards  the  wishes  of  the  nations  they  repre- 
sented, but  it  was  not  supposed  that  President  McKinley  should 
hobnob  with  the  representatives  of  Pope  Leo  of  Rome,  who  did 
not  represent  anyone  but  the  selfish  wishes  of  an  overbearing  and 
decrepit  mortal  who-  had  never  shown  any  disposition  to  even  fa- 
vor America  or  any  of  her  institutions.  But  it  is  a  fact,  to  the 
shame  of  this  Republic,  that  Archbishop  Ireland,  and  Cardinal 
Gibbons  had  free  access  to  the  private  and  secluded  chambers 
of  the  White  House  at  Washington,  and  also  the  President  con- 
sidered and  weighed  the  demands  and  wishes  of  the  Pope  with 
as  much  care  and  consideration  as  though  he  had  been  the 
head  of  some  powerful  nation.  Reader,  are  you  a  Protestant? 
If  you  are,  does  it  not  cause  a  blush  to  mantle  your  cheek  when 
you  are  stared  in  the  face  by  these  facts  ?    Does  it  not  make  you 


414  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

feel  as  if  the  America  of  bygone  days  had  lost  her  independ- 
ence? Some  may  say  that  the  writer  is  a  Democrat,  or  else  he 
would  not  be  chronicling  these  facts ;  but  permit  me  to  say  that  I 
never  voted  for  a  Democratic  Presidential  candidate  in  .all  my 
life,  and  I  also  voted  for  McKinley,  but  if  the  good  Lord  will 
forgive  me,  I  will  never  do  it  again.  I  am  an  American  Protest- 
ant, and  I  do  not  believe  that  any  true  American  can  cast  a  vote 
for  any  man  who  in  every  move  of  his  public  career,  where  it  is 
possible,  shows  his  willingness  to  favor  a  secret,  oath-bound 
body  (as  the  Catholic  Church  is)  and  a  body  of  persons  who  are 
banded  together  for  the  purpose  of  paralyzing  every  interest  of 
Protestants. 

It  was  Spain's  ungodliness  that  brought  on  the  Spanish- 
American  war,  and  who  is  Spain  but  the  most  unrelenting  Cath- 
olic country  that  exists.  The  West  India  Islands  were  the  prog- 
enies of  Spain,  and  her  unbearable  and  inhuman  treatment  of 
her  subjects  caused  them  to  rebel  against  her  tyrannical  treat- 
ment, consequently  you  can  trace  the  cause  of  this  war  right  to  the 
door  of  the  Vatican.  These  are  facts,  and  since  they  are,  what 
reasons  can  the  President  of  the  United  States  give  for  consult- 
ing the  very  ones  who  forced  this  nation  to  give  up  her  brave 
sons,  that  Catholicism  might  be  punished.  We  desire  to  go  back 
to  the  history  of  the  West  Indies  long,  long  ago,  that  the  Ameri- 
can people  may  see  that  Catholicism  is  the  only  one  to  blame  for 
the  Spanish-American  war,  and  that  they  may  also  see  the  in- 
consistency of  President  McKinley  spending  the  nation's  money 
in  cabling  to  the  Vatican  in  order  to  impress  the  Catholics  of 
America  that  he  is  eager  to  show  respect  to  the  Pontiff.  We  have 
historical  facts  that  no  Methodist  can  contradict,  let  him  be  either 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  41B 

Republican  or  Democrat,  and  this  chapter  of  persecutions  was 
heaped  upon  Methodist  missionaries  in  the  West  Indies  by  the 
sanction  of  the  same  power  that  spilled  the  blood  of  our  Ameri- 
can youth  in  the  Spanish-American  war. 

The  exertions  of  Christians  to  spread  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel among  the  West  Indies,  have  met  with  much  opposition  from 
the  Catholic  population.  Missionaries,  at  first,  sold  themselves 
as  slaves,  and  labored  with  the  negroes  on  the  plantations  for  the 
purpose  of  preaching  the  gospel  during  the  intervals  of  labor. 
The  Methodist  missionaries  have  been  treated  with  much  indig- 
nity, and  have  had  their  lives  endangered  by  the  violence  of  the 
Catholic  mob.  In  1878  the  rabble  of  Barbadoes  collected  together 
and  totally  destroyed  the  Methodist  chapel.  The  destruction  of 
the  chapel  occupied  two  successive  nights,  and  so  listless  were  the 
authorities,  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  prevent  it.  And  when 
the  governor  issued  a  proclamation,  offering  a  reward  to  any 
person  who  should  apprehend  the  leaders  in  this  outrageous  pro- 
ceeding, the  mob  immediately  issued  a  counter  proclamation, 
threatening  with  death  any  one  who  should  dare  to  comply  with 
the  governor's  orders. 

In  August,  an  insurrection  took  place  at  Demerara,  among 
the  negroes,  which  was  most  unjustly  attributed  to  the  efforts  of 
the  missionaries.  The  principal  events  in  relation  to  this  affair 
are  detailed  in  the  subjoined  account  from  the  Missionary  Her- 
ald. 

Various  accounts  have,  from  time  to  time,  appeared  in  the 
public  prints,  of  the  insurrection  of  the  slaves  in  the  colony  of 
Demerara,  and  of  the  condemnation  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  a 
missionary  from  the  London  Missionary  Society,  on  an  accusa- 


416  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

tion  of  having  been  accessory  to  the  plot.  We  have  collected  and 
embodied  such  of  the  leading  facts,  relative  to  these  transactions, 
as  have  come  to  our  knowledge. 

The  slaves  of  many  plantations  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Dem- 
erara  had  formed  a  conspiracy  to  obtain  their  freedom.  The 
plot  was  disclosed  by  a  servant  to  his  master  on  the  i8th  of  Au- 
gust, not  till  the  conspiracy  was  thoroughly  organized,  and  ar- 
rangements made  to  secure  simultaneous  movements,  and  only 
a  few  hours  before  the  time  appointed  for  action.  Information 
was  immediately  communicated  to  the  commander-in-chief,  and 
the  most  efficient  measures  taken;  but  before  a  sufficient  force 
could  be  assembled  to  resist  a  large  body  of  negroes,  who  were 
immediately  under  arms,  the  evening,  which  was  the  time  for 
executing  the  first  grand  enterprise,  had  arrived.  This  was  simul- 
taneously to  seize  upon  the  whites  at  the  different  plantations, 
confine  them  in  the  stocks,  and  take  possession  of  their  arms. 
This  was  effected  on  nearly  fifty  plantations,  containing,  includ- 
ing women  and  children,  10,000  or  12,000  negroes.  The  whites, 
to  the  number  of  about  250,  were  imprisoned.  In  some  places 
an  ineffectual  resistance  was  made,  and  several  lives  lost  on  both 
sides. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th,  the  governor  issued  a  procla- 
mation, declaring  the  colony  under  martial  law,  and  ordered  all 
v/ho  were  capable  of  bearing  arms,  without  distinction,  to  be 
immediately  enrolled.  The  most  vigorous  measures  were  pur- 
sued; and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  after  several  skirmishes, 
in  which  a  considerable  number  of  negroes  lost  their  lives,  the 
insurrection  was  subdued. 

A  court  martial  was  then  constituted,  and  many  of  the  ne- 


XLXETEEXriI  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMAXIS}L  417 

groes  brought  to  trial,  condemned  and  executed.  Subsequent 
accounts  state  that  more  than  i,ooo  had  suffered  death,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  insurrection,  and  that  many  of  their  heads  had 
been  fixed  up  on  poles  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 

We  might  easily  be  more  particular  in  regard  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  insurrection,  but  our  object  is  chiefly  to  relate 
what  concerns  the  missionary  who  was  accused  of  having  a  part 
in  the  scheme,  and  the  other  missionaries  in  the  colony.  On 
these  points  we  have  to  regret  that  the  information  which  has  yet 
been  received  is  very  scanty  and  in  many  respects  indefinite. 

The  extract  which  follows  is  from  the  Missionary  Chronicle, 
and  was  published  in  the  name  of  the  Directors  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society. 

The  insurrection,  it  should  seem,  manifested  itself  first  in 
Mahaica,  the  district  to  the  east  of  that  in  which  Mr.  Smith  re-^ 
sides.  Its  appearance  on  the  Le  Ressouvenir  estate,  where  Mr. 
Smith  resides,  was  on  Monday,  the  i8th  of  August,  in  consequence 
of  an  order  to  take  into  custody  two  slaves  belonging  to  an  ad- 
joining plantation,  whom  the  negroes  of  the  Le  Ressouvenir,  as 
the  prisoners  had  to  pass  over  it,  rose  to  rescue.  Mr.  Smith  was 
at  home.  He  successfully  used  his  endeavors,  on  perceiving  the 
tumult,  to  rescue  the  manager  from  the  negroes,  and  continued 
his  exertions  to  induce. them  to  return  to  their  duty,  till  he  him- 
self was  driven  with  violence,  and  with  a  weapon  held  to  his  body, 
from  the  estate. 

Mr.  Smith  w^as  taken  into  custody  on  the  evening  of  the  21st 
of  August,  and  all  his  papers  seized.  He  is  kept  a  prisoner  in 
the  Colony-house,  and  has,  since  the  24th  of  August,  had  a  guard 
stationed  over  him. 

(27^ 


41S  NlNETEENTIl  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Mr.  Elliot,  another  missionary,  who  labored  about  20  miles 
from  Mr.  Smith,  was  also  taken  into  custody,  on  the  ground  of 
disobedience  of  orders,  "which  he  had  not  understood  to  be 
such,"  in  visiting  Mr.  Smith  in  his  confinement.  He  was  kept 
about  ten  days,  and  then  released.  No  charge  was  preferred 
against  him.  The  estates  on  which  he  labors  had  been  quiet,  and 
none  of  the  negroes  under  his  instructions  were  implicated  in  the 
rebellion. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety, Mr.  Elliot  writes  thus : 

Numerous  false  reports  have  been  sent  forth  against  Mr. 
Smith,  but  assure  yourself  and  all  the  directors,  that  whatever 
reports  you  may  hear,  the  only  crime  the  missionaries  have  com- 
mitted is  their  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the  negroes.  They  have 
neither  been  so  zveak  nor  so  zvicked  as  to  excite  the  negroes  to 
rehellion.  The  missionaries  want  justice  only;  they  have  no 
favor  to  ask;  they  have  nothing  to  fear.  The  missionaries  have 
not  degraded  their  holy  calling,  nor  dishonored  the  society  of 
which  they  are  members,  by  sowing  the  seeds  of  rebellion  instead 
of  the  Word  of  Life.  The  real  causes  of  the  rebellion  are  far, 
very  far  from  being  the  instructions  given  by  the  missionaries. 

On  the  13th  of  October,  Mr.  Smith  was  brought  to  trial  be- 
fore a  court  martial.  All  the  accounts  which  we^have  yet  seen 
of  the  charges  brought  against  him  are  very  obscure  and  imper- 
fect. The  January  number  of  the  Missionary  Chronicle,  from 
which  we  have  already  quoted,  says : — 

The  public  papers  have  stated  four  charges  as  forming  the 
indictment  against  him,  but  of  their  accuracy  the  directors  are 
wot  enabled  to  judge.    They  trust  that,  under  the  direction  of 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  419 

Divine  Providence,  he  has  been  able  to  prove  himself  guiltless 
of  them  all. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  concealed,  that  he  will  have  had 
much  to  contend  with  from  the  violence  of  public  prejudice  in  the 
Colony,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  from  the  false  assertions  of  some  of 
the  unhappy  negroes,  whom  the  hope  of  favor  toward  themselves 
may  have  led  to  bring  against  him  "things  that  he  knew  not." 
Indeed,  the  directors  are  informed,  upon  authority  on  which 
they  can  rely,  that  some  of  the  condemned  negroes,  finding  the 
hope  of  life  taken  away,  had  in  the  most  solemn  manner  declared 
that  they  had  been  induced  so  to  act;  and  that  others,  on  being 
questioned  whether  they  had  not  been  induced  to  rebellion  by  ■ 
Mr.  Smith,  had  in  the  strongest  terms  which  their  broken  lan- 
guage could  supply,  denied  the  imputation.  It  is  stated  by  the 
writer  of  one  letter,  that  he  has  often  heard  charges  circulated 
against  the  missionaries,  as  if  spoken  by  the  negroes  at  the  time 
of  their  execution,  which  he  knew  (for  he  was  a  near  spectator) 
that  they  had  never  uttered. 

We  can  as  yet  learn  little  more  respecting  the  evidence  which 
was  produced  before  the  court  than  that  some  of  the  negroes 
testified  that  the  instructions  of  Mr.  Smith  had  a  tendency  to 
make  them  dissatisfied  with  their  condition,  and  that  he  knew  of 
the  plot  before  it  was  carried  into  execution. 

He  w;as  condemned,  and  sentenced  to  death.  The  sentence 
was,  however,  transmitted  by  the  governor,  to  England,  for  the 
consideration  and  ultimate  decision  of  the  king.  What  we  know 
of  the  decision  will  be  seen  in  the  following  paragraph,  copied 
from  the  New  York  Observer  of  March  27th. 

It  appears  from  the  London  papers,  that  "the  king  has  re- 


420  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

mitted  the  sentence  of  death  of  the  court  martial  on  Mr.  Smith", 
the  missionary  of  the  London  Society  in  Demerara  (which  sen- 
tence \v!as  accompanied  by  a  recommendation  for  mercy  on  the 
part  of  the  court,)  but  was  given  orders  that  he  should  be  dis- 
missed from  the  colony,  and  should  come  under  obligations  not 
to  reside  within  any  of  his  majesty's  colonial  possessions  in  the 
West  Indies."  The  charges  against  Mr.  Smith  appear  to  have 
originated  in  the  perjury  of  some  of  the  negroes  engaged  in  the 
insurrection. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Smith  was  languishing  under  the  in- 
fluence of  disease,  which  rendered  the  stroke  of  the  executioner 
unnecessary  to  remove  him  from  the  earth.  He  died  in  prison, 
before  the  intelligence  had  arrived  that  his  sentence  was  re- 
versed. The  following  notice  of  his  death  appeared  in  the  Dem- 
erara Courant: 

Died. — In  the  Colonial  Jail,  at  Demerara,  February  9th, 
where  he  had  been  confined,  as  a  state  prisoner  since  the  26th  of 
November  last,  on  the  termination  of  his  trial  by  the  general 
court  martial,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  sentence  thereon  hav- 
ing been  transmitted  to  his  majesty  for  his  final  decision — 
JOHN  SMITH,  missionary;  he  had  been  in  a  poor  state  of 
health,  and  had  been  attended  regularly  by  skillful  physicians. 
We  are  happy  to  state,  from  personal  inquiry  and  inspection, 
that  this  unhappy  man  had  the  utmost  attention  and  kindness 
shown  to  him,  by  the  humane  keeper  of  the  prison  (Mr.  Pad- 
more,)  all  the  time  of  his  confinement.  His  apartment  was  airy 
and  commodious,  he  had  afhvays  at  his  command  every  comfort 
which  his  taste  fancied  or  his  necessities  required.  He  has  left 
a  widow  to  deplore  his  fate,  and  mourn  his  loss. 


KINETEEXTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  421 


The  conviction  wliicli  results  from  the  present  state  of  our 
information  on  this  subject,  is  that,  through  prejudice  and  exas- 
perated feeling,  Mr.  Smith  was  condemned,  being  innocent.  The 
directors  of  the  society  under  which  he  labored,  have,  however, 
given  us  reason  to  look  for  further  intelligence  in  a  future  num- 
ber of  the  Missionary  Chronicle,  which  we  hope  will  soon  arrive. 

It  appears  that  none  of  the  negroes  under  the  instruction  of 
any  missionary,  either  of  the  London  or  Wesleyan  Missionary 
Society,  except  Mr.  Smith,  were  implicated  in  the  insurrection. 
Respecting  the  Methodists  in  the  colony  we  quote  the  following 
statement  from  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine: 

We  stated  in  our  last  number,  that  Messrs.  Mortier  and 
Cheesewright,  our  missionaries  in  Demerara  were  safe,  and  that 
only  two  of  the  members  of  our  society  there  had  been  apprehend- 
ed on  suspicion  of  being  implicated  in  the  late  revolt.  We  have 
received  a  second  letter  from  Mr.  Mortier,  dated  Demerara,  Sep- 
tember seventeenth,  which  communicated  the  gratifying  intelli- 
gence that  these  two  persons,  who  were  servants  of  the  governor, 
had  been  liberated  upon  full  conviction  of  their  entire  innocence, 
and  that  no  one  of  the  members  of  our  large  society  of  twelve 
hundred  and  sixteen,  chiefly  slaves,  had  been  in  the  least  con- 
cerned in  the  revolt :  and  that  the  slaves  of  another  estate,  under 
the  care  of  Mr.  Cheesewright,  had  not  only  refused  to  join  the 
rebels,  but  had  conducted  their  master  to  a  vessel,  by  which  he 
reached  Georgetown  in  safety. 

The  London  Missionary  Chronicle  for  March  contains  a 
statement  respecting  Mr.  Smith's  case,  occupying,  with  accom- 
panying documents,  nearly  twelve  pages,  which  confirms  the 
impression  that  Mr.  Smith  was  innocent.    The  Directors  of  the 


422  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

London  Missionary  Society,  after  stating  some  circumstances  rel- 
ative to  his  trial,  says  : 

The  Directors  having  stated  these  points  of  serious  objection 
(and  more  might  easily  be  found,)  to  the  proceedings  on  the 
trial,  conclude  that  the  members  of  the  society,  and  the  candid 
beyond  its  circle,  will  approve  of  their  declaring  that  they  retain 
tlie  conviction  formerly  expressed,  of  the  moral  and  legal  inno- 
cence of  their  missionary.  Smith;  that  they  do  not  withdraw  from 
him  their  confidence;  and  that  they  are  "not  ashamed  of  his 
bonds."  They  regard  him  as  an  unmerited  sufferer,  in  the  dili- 
gent and  faithful,  and  it  may  be  added,  useful  discharge  of  his 
duties,  as  a  missionary;  and  they  earnestly  wish  the  Divine  for- 
giveness may  be  extended  to  those  who  may  have  been  instru- 
mental in  causing  his  sufferings. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Austin,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  Chaplain  of  the  Colony,  thus  expresses  his  opinion  in 
a  private  letter : 

*T  feel  no  hesitation  in  declaring,  from  the  intimate  knowl- 
edge which  my  most  anxious  inquiries  have  obtained,  that  in  the 
late  scourge  which  the  hand  of  an  all-wise  Creator  has  inflicted 
en  this  ill-fated  country,  nothing  but  those  religious  impressions 
which,  under  Providence,  Mr.  Smith  has  been  instrumental  in 
fixing — nothing  but  those  principles  of  the  gospel  of  peace  which 
he  has  been  proclaiming — could  have  prevented  a  dreadful  effu- 
sion of  blood  here,  and  saved  the  lives  of  these  very  persons  wlio 
are  now  (I  shudder  to  write  it,)  seeking  his." 

The  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  William  Arrindcll, 
Itsq.,  of  Demerara,  Mr.  Smith's  counsel,  addressed  to  Mrs. 
Smith,  after  the  trial,  is  also  inserted : 


NINBTEBNTB  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  423 


"It  is  almost  presumptuous  in  me  to  differ  from  the  sentence 
of  a  court,  but,  before  God,  I  do  believe  Mr.  Smith  to  be  innocent; 
nay,  I  will  go  further,  and  defy  any  minister,  of  any  sect  what- 
ever, to  have  shown  a  more  faithful  attention  to  his  sacred  duties, 
than  he  has  been  proved,  by  the  evidence  on  his  trial,  to  have 
done." 

The  Directors  had  resolved  to  take  further  measures  for  ob- 
taining, in  England,  the  reversal  of  his  sentence. 

This  subject  was  brought  before  the  English  parliament, 
and  after  a  full  and  fair  discussion,  the  innocence  of  Mr.  Smith 
was  established  beyond  a  question.  The  following  from  the  Lon- 
don Christian  Observer  gives  an  account  of  the  proceedings  in 
Parliament : 

A  debate  of  two  days'  continuance  on  the  case  of  the  mis- 
sionary Smith  has  taken  place  in  the  House  of  Commons.  A 
motion  was  made  by  Mr.  Brougham,  to  express  the  serious  alarm 
and  deep  sorrow  with  which  the  house  contemplated  the  violation 
of  law  and  justice,  manifested  in  the  unexampled  proceedings 
against  Mr.  Smith  in  Demerara,  and  their  sense  of  the  necessity 
of  adopting  measures  to  secure  a  just  and  humane  administration 
of  law  in  that  colony,  and  to  protect  the  voluntary  instruction 
of  the  negroes,  as  well  as  the  negroes  themselves,  and  the  rest 
of  his  Majesty's  subjects  from  oppression.  This  motion  was 
supported  by  Mr.  Brougham  with  a  power  of  argument  and  elo- 
quence which  has  seldom  been  equaled;  and  he  was  followed  or* 
the  same  side  by  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Dr.  Lushington,  Mr.  J. 
Williams,  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Mr.  Denman,  and  Sir  Joseph  Yorke» 
The  motion  Was  opposed  by  Mr.  Horton,  Mr.  Scarlett,  Mr.  Tin- 
dal,  the  Attorney  General,  and  Mr.  Canning,  on  the  ground,  no* 


424  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

of  the  legality  of  the  proceedings,  or  of  the  justice  of  the  sen- 
tence, but  that  the  motion  went  to  condemn  unheard  the  governor 
of  Demerara,  and  the  court  that  tried  Mr.  Smith.  On  this  ground 
the  previous  question  was  moved  and  carried  by  193  to  146,  the 
largest  minority  in  the  present  session.  The  division,  under  all 
the  circumstances  of  the  case  may  be  considered  as  a  triumph. 
Not  an  individual  attempted  to  defend  the  proceedings.  In  short, 
nothing  could  have  been  more  decisive  of  the  innocence  of  Mr. 
Smith,  and  the  injustice  of  his  condemnation. 

We  extract  from  the  publications  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission- 
ary Society,  the  following  account  of  the  aggressions  committed 
upon  the  Protestant  population  of  Hayti,  by  the  Roman  Catholics 
■of  that  island,  during  the  year  1824. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  journal  of  Mr.  St.  Denis, 
and  letters  of  Mr.  Pressoir,  members  of  the  Methodist  Society 
at  Port  au  Prince,  we  copied  from  the  Wesleyan  Magazine.  The 
first  extracts  are  from  the  journal  of  Mr.  St.  Denis. 

On  Sunday,  Feb.  2d,  our  assembly  was  held  at  Belair.  Dur- 
ing the  morning  service  several  stones  were  thrown. 

Feb.  4.  Whilst  we  were  singing,  a  shower  of  stones  was 
thrown,  but  no  one  received  any  injury. 

That  evening  (Feb.  7th)  we  had  a  small  assembly  of  thirty- 
two  persons.  A  plan  had  been  laid  for  apprehending  us.  which 
was  put  in  execution.  We  had  time  to  sing  a  hymn,  read  a  chap- 
ter, and  a  homily;  but  whilst  singing  the  second  hymn,  the  noise 
of  the  soldiers  was  so  great  in  approaching  our  house  of  prayer, 
that  we  were  obliged  to  cease  singing.  Wishing,  however,  to 
continue  our  meeting,  an  officer  of  the  police  said,  "In  the  name 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  425 

of  law,  leave  off  that  prayer !"  Then  we  left  off.  Not  finding 
J.  C.  Pressoir,  they  made  me  his  second.  We  were  taken  to  Gen- 
eral Thomas,  who  pretended  to  be  ignorant  of  the  matter, 
Colonel  Victor  pretended  to  be  ignorant  also.  When  we  reached 
the  house  of  the  Juge  de  Paix,  we  were  ordered  to  halt  for  a  mo- 
ment. Colonel  Victor  knocked  at  his  door,  the  Juge  de  Paix 
asked  who  we  were,  and  was  answered,  "A  band  of  Methodists." 
The  Juge  de  Paix  said,  "Ha!  ha!  take  them  to  jail!"  Colonel 
Victor  replied,  "Yes !"  We  were  led  to  prison,  and  each  of  our 
names  was  taken.  The  sisters  were  put  in  the  debtor's  place,  and 
the  men  were  shut  up  in  close  confinement. 

The  next  morning,  the  person  who  keeps  the  keys  of  the 
prison  under  the  jailer  told  us,  that  the  Juge  de  Paix  would  not 
allow  our  door  to  be  opened;  but  the  jailer  went  and  spoke  re- 
specting it,  and  our  door  was  opened  about  nine  o'clock.  A  mo- 
ment after,  the  Juge  de  Paix  came  to  visit  us,  and  addressed  him- 
self to  me  in  anger.  I  wished  to  reply;  he  would  not  listen  to  me; 
but  began  to  blaspheme  religion,  despising  the  Lord.  He  with- 
drew in  anger,  \Mithout  being  able  to  do  anything  with  us.  A 
moment  after  he  left  us,  we  were  taken  into  the  debtor's  prison, 
near  to  the  sisters,  in  a  separate  chamber. 

When  Mr.  Pressoir  heard  of  this  event,  he  visited  his  breth- 
ren at  the  prison.  The  following  extract  is  from  one  of  his  let- 
ters : 

I  would  not  run  into  prison  of  my  own  accord,  but  having 
waited,  and  finding  nothing  was  said  to  us,  I  went  to  see  my 
brethren  and  sisters.  I  found  there  were  thirty-two,  and  St.  Denis 
preparing  to  write  to  the  president,  which  he  did,  and  I  carried 
this  letter  to  his  excellency,  by  which  we  requested  him  to  cause 


42«  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


US  to  be  judged,  and  punished,  if  we  were  found  guilty  by  the 
law.  When  I  arrived  under  the  piazza  of  the  palace,  I  asked  an 
officer  on  duty  if  I  could  see  the  president,  who  answered,  Yes. 
1  entered  the  hall,  where  I  found  the  president  seated,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  circle,  as  well  of  officers  as  civilians.  After  saluting 
them,  I  presented  the  letter  to  the  president,  who  asked  me  from 
v/hence  it  came.  I  replied,  "From  the  Methodists  who  are  in 
prison."  His  good  humor  was  immediately  changed.  "Metho- 
dists," said  he,  "1  did  not  know  that."  Colonel  Victor,  who  was 
present,  thinking  that  through  fear  I  would  wish  to  conceal  my- 
self, addressed  himself  to  the  president,  saying,  "President,  this 
is  a  Methodist,"  as  if  the  president  did  not  know  it.  Immediate- 
ly the  president  replied,  "You  are  fanatics."  "Pardon  me,  presi- 
dent, we  are  not."  "Why,  you  have  changed  your  religion."  "If 
1  have  changed  my  religion,  president,  it  is  the  government  which 
has  made  me  do  it."  "Plow  is  that?"  said  he.  "It  was  the  late 
president  who  sent  for  the  missionaries.  I  heard  the  letter  read, 
snd  saw  the  late  president's  signature;  this  is  what  I  can  tell 
you."  "Enough,  enough,"  said  he,  "I  will  send  an  answer."  I 
went  to  the  prison  and  waited  till  it  was  late ;  but  hearing  nothing, 
and  being  ill  of  the  fever,  I  returned  to  my  mother's. 

The  next  day  orders  were  given  for  the  brethren  and  sisters 
to  appear  before  the  chief  judge.  A  dollar  was  demanded  of 
each  on  leaving  prison,  and  they  were  conducted  by  a  single  ser- 
geant. On  their  arrival  the  chief  judge  forbade  them,'  in  the 
name  of  the  president,  to  assemble  together  again.  "No  one  can 
hinder  you  from  worshiping  God  as  you  please;  but  let  every  one 
abide  at  home,  for  as  often  as  you  are  found  assembled  you  shall 
be  put  in  prison;  and  if  you  unhappily  persist,  I  have  received 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  42T 

orders  to  disperse  you  everywhere."  Several  wished  to  reply, 
but  he  refused  to  listen,  saying,  "It  is  not  for  me;  it  is  not  my 
fault;  these  orders  are  given  me."  All  our  brethren  and  sisters 
went  out,  animated  with  a  holy  zeal,  determining*  not  to  abandon 
their  assemblies.  The  next  day  we  were  assembled.  After  an 
exhortation  we  sung  a  h3'^mn  which  being  finished,  we  kneeled 
down  to  pray :  a  shoxVer  of  stones  came,  as  if  they  would  have 
demolished  the  house,  and  have  stoned  us  like  Stephen.  With 
one  accord  we  commended  ourselves  to  our  faithful  Creator,  and 
continued  in  prayer  till  they  had  ceased. 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  dated  July  31st,  he  writes : — 
Since  the  Lord  has  granted  us  the  favor  of  meeting  again, 
we  have  continued  our  assemblies  without  intermission,  although 
forbidden  to  do  this  under  pain  of  prison  and  exile.  The  only 
interruption  we  meet  with  is  bad  words,  and  a  few  stones  now 
and  then;  and  I  am  become  so  marked,  that  I  cannot  go  out  with- 
out people  crying  after  me,  "Methodist!  Parson!" — with  a  con- 
temptuous sneer,  and  a  thousand  other  things  not  fit  to  write,  but 
which  serve  only  to  strengthen  my  faith  in  the  promises  of  Him 
who  is  faithful ;  till  last  Sunday  some  foolish  young  women  came 
to  revile  us;  and  on  Tuesday  evening,  whilst  reading,  stones 
were  thrown,  and  whilst  we  were  at  prayer  a  great  number 
rushed  in,  armed  with  sabers,  sticks,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  with 
stones,  crying  out,  "In  the  name  of  law,"  as  if  they  had  been  au- 
thorized by  the  heads  of  the  people  to  arrest  us.  This  band  con- 
sisted of  boys,  led  on  to  commit  disorders  by  a  set  of  idle,  good- 
for-nothing  persons,  of  the  worst  class,  who  had  armed  them- 
selves with  sabers,  and  were  disguised  with  old  cocked  hats;  try- 
ing thus  to  show  their  bravery  over  those  who  would  make  no 


428  •        NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

resistance.  But  the  hairs  of  our  head  are  all  numbered;  nor  Have 
they  been  permitted  to  hurt  any  of  us  to  the  present.  It  would  be 
useless  for  us  to  ask  or  hope  for  the  protection  of  the  law;  and 
Vv'e  are  thus  led  to  place  all  our  confidence  in  God,  who  can  and 
will  deliver  us  in  his  time.  And  if  the  Lord  is  for  me,  of  whom 
should  I  be  afraid  ?  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  deliver- 
ed him  up  for  me,  will  He  not  with  him  freely  give  me  all  things  ? 
I  have  already  experienced  that  all  my  sufferings  for  His  name 
are  great  blessings  to  me.  All  my  care  is  about  His  church;  and 
what  wisdom  does  it  require  to  conduct  so  many  persons  of  such 
different  dispositions !    I  feel  new  wants  daily. 

The  following  brief  view  of  the  persecutions  of  the  Metho- 
dists, in  Hayti,  is  taken  from  "Missionary  Notices,"  published 
by  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.  This  account  gave  some 
particulars  in  addition  to  those  narrated  in  the  details  inserted 
above : 

We  regret  to  find, — say  the  committee  of  that  society, — 
from  the  following  letter  received  from  Mr.  Pressoir,  that  our 
poor  persecuted  society  at  Port-au-Prince,  so  long  the  object  of 
popish  rancor,  has  again  had  to  sustain  the  brutal  outrages  of 
an  ignorant  mob,  incited  it  would  seem,  in  another  place,  by  per- 
sons calling  themselves  "respectable,"  and  without  experiencing 
any  protection  from  the  local  authorities.  The  committee  have 
endeavored  to  obtain  for  them  the  common  protection  of  the  laws 
of  their  own  country,  by  applications  through  various  quarters, 
and  hope  they  may  be  ultimately  successful.  In  the  meantime 
this  excellent  and  suffering  people  are  entitled  to  the  special  sym- 
pathies, and  earnest  prayers,  of  the  friends  of  missions.  We 
trust  that  they  may  yet,  by  their  meek  and  patient  suffering,  and 


NINETCENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  429 

heroic  perseverance,  obtain  that  liberty  of  worship  which  they  so 
earnestly  desire. 

The  letter  from  Mr.  Pressoir  is  dated  about  a  year  since. 
The  following  extracts  describe  the  violence  of  the  mob : 

I  have  read  of  many  instances  of  martyrdom  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus  Christ,  but  I  have  not  yet  read  a  passage  which 
relates  that  the  people  of  a  city  rose  up  like  murderers,  with  a 
very  few  exceptions,  to  stone  a  few  persons  met  together  in  a 
house,  as  our  fathers,  mothers,  brethren,  and  children  have  done 
unto  us  not  long  ago.  O,  cruel  people!  They  began  to  throw 
stones  at  us  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  continued  their 
assaults  till  ten  o'clock,  committing  all  kinds  of  violence.  They 
broke  dov/n  the  doors,  broke  open  the  windovv^s,  destroyed  the 
first  and  second  partitions  in  the  upper  chambers;  in  a  word, 
everything  that  was  in  the  house,  and  beat  with  their  cow-skin 
v/hips  the  brethren  and  sisters  there,  without  showing  compas- 
sion for  either  age  or  youth  or  even  infancy.  I  believed  I  suffered 
the  least  of  any.  Only  a  great  emissary  of  Satan,  seized  my  left 
hand,  and  lifting  up  his  whip  declared  he  would  knock  me  down, 
if  I  did  not  say  "Almighty  God,  the  Virgin  Mary."  My  only 
answer  was,  turning  my  back.  Several  times  he  even  brought 
his  whip  to  my  neck,  and  afterwards  laid  it  on  my  shoulder,  rag- 
ing and  abusing  me  with  all  the  fury  of  Anti-christ.  But  he  that 
numbered  my  hairs  did  not  allow  one  of  them  to  fall  to  the 
ground.  Thanks  be  to  Him  for  confidence  in  His  holy  word, 
w  hich  is  firmer  than  heaven  or  earth.  When  the  populace  entered 
to  knock  down  our  sisters  I  was  in  the  first  chamber,  and  hearing 
their  cries,  I  tried  to  force  my  way  to  them,  to  try  if  I  could  ren- 
der them  any  assistance;  then. the  tyrant  persecutor  struck  me 


430  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS'  OF  ROMANISM. 


several  times  on  my  hat,  but  I  received  no  injury.  But  we  were 
torn,  outraged,  and  brought  back  to  the  house,  v/here  they  exer- 
cised their  dark  cruelty.  It  appeared  as  if  Satan  was  unchained, 
in  great  danger;  those  who  wished  to  go  out  were  stoned,  beaten, 
and  had  come  forth  to  make  w^r  against  those  whom  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  had  made  free,  and  to  crush  those  who  had  believed 
the  testimony  of  the  Son  of  God. 

I  ask,  then,  by  whom  have  we  been  protected,  and  delivered 
unto  this  day  ?  Was  it  by  magistrates,  judges,  and  police  officers  ? 
Or  by  the  other  guards  appointed  to  appease  riots  and  defend  the 
law?  It  is  true,  they  were  present  in  great  numbers,  but  it  was 
rather  to  advise  and  direct  others.  Some  brought  barrows  full  of 
stones,  and  others  threw  them,  and  said  to  the  cruel  populace, 
that,  since  We  were  so  obstinate,  the  government  had  given  us 
into  their  hands,  and  they  might  do  to  us  whatever  they  pleased; 
and  they  did  treat  us  with  inhumanity  and  the  greatest  violence. 

It  was  impossible  to  go  out  without  being  beaten,  stoned, 
dragged,  abused,  and  covered  with  dirt,  and  in  the  end  we  could 
neither  buy  nor  sell  without  being  dragged  before  a  magistrate, 
beat,  and  covered  with  spitting  and  mud,  and  all  kinds  of  out- 
rages. They  went  beyond  Porte  Marchant  to  brother  Floran's, 
Sister  Claire's,  and  J.  P.  J.  Lusant's.  At  brother  Floran's  they 
destroyed  everything  in  the  garden^  and  treated  his  wife,  already 
broken  with  age,  with  the  greatest  inhumanity;  dragging  Sister 
Claire  by  her  feet  out  of  the  house,  as  also  her  god-daughter.  And 
at  J.  P.  J.  Lusant's  what  disorders  have  they  not  committed 
amongst  those  poor  persons,  who  have  fled  from  the  town  to 
have  some  tranquility.  I  must  tell  you  one  circumstance  which 
J.  P.  J.  L.  told  me,  to  show  you  the  cowardice  of  persecutors;. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  m 

five  or  six  of  them  entered  his  gate,  coiiceahng  their  swords, 
making  up  to  him  with  loud  vociferations;  seeing  them  coming, 
he  went  into  his  house,  took  an  old  rusty  musket  without  flint, 
and  leveling  it  at  them,  they  all  instantly  fled  with  all  speed,  say- 
ing, "The  Quakers  don't  carry  arms,  and  see  this  old  Quaker  here 
intends  killing  us." 

Alluding  to  the  letter  of  Mr,  Pressoir,  above  noticed,  and  to 
other  communications  received  about  the  same  time,  the  Wes- 
leyan  Committee  remark,  in  their  publication  for  July: 

In  a  recent  number  we  laid  before  our  readers  some  ex- 
tracts of  letters  from  our  afflicted  and  persecuted  society  at  Port- 
au-Prince,  Hayti;  from  which  it  appeared  that  several  of  them 
had  again  been  called  to  suffer  bonds  for  the  cause  of  Christ ;  that 
the  house  in  \Vhich  they  were  in  the  habit  of  assembling  for  re- 
ligious worship  was  demolished;  and  that  they  themselves  were 
delivered  up  to  the  will  of  a  blind  and  infuriated  populace,  the 
magistrates  refusing  to  afford  them  any  protection  against  the 
outrages  to  which  they  were  daily  exposed.  From  later  commu- 
nications we  learn,  that,  on  an  appeal  being  made  by  letter  to  the 
president,  those  in  prison  were  set  at  liberty;  and  that  a  procla- 
mation was  made  by  his  excellency's  orders,  forbidding  any  one 
to  stone,  injure,  or  otherwise  persecute  the  Methodists,  but  at 
the  same  time  prohibiting  all  meetings  of  our  society  for  religious 
worship,  on  pain  of  being  arrested. 

Notwithstanding  the  above  proclamation,  our  people  have 
still  to  suffer,  in  various  ways,  the  insults  and  persecutions  of  the 
rabble.  They  continue,  as  they  are  able,  and  can  find  opportunity, 
to  meet  together  for  prayer,  etc. 

The  letter  to  President  Boyer  shows  very  clearly  the  pacific 


432  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OP  RO.UANISM. 


character  and  object  of  these  Protestants.  It  is  too  important  a 
part  of  these  documents  to  be  omitted. 

President, — You  are  acquainted  with  our  society,  formed 
here  six  years  ago.  The  end  of  our  meeting  together  is,  to  in- 
voke the  blessing  of  God,  not  only  on  ourselves,  but  also  on  the 
government,  its  magistrates,  and  even  on  those  who  evil  entreat 
us  without  cause;  for  we  do  not  hate  them,  nor  render  evil  for  evil. 
This  is  what  our  religion  commands.  It  is  not  that  we  wish  by 
our  meetings  to  disobey  our  president;  but  our  desire  is  to  obey 
God  our  sovereign,  and  His  law  requires  that  we  should  love  the 
head  that  He  has  placed  over  us. 

We  know  that  your  excellency  will  not  approve  the  conduct 
of  those  who  have  stoned  and  evil  entreated  us  without  cause. 
We  have  been  treated  as  enemies  to  the  government,  yet  are  not 
such.  Yesterday  we  were  arrested  and  put  in  prison,  by  order  of 
General  Thomas,  who  at  once  without  examination,  pronounced 
our  sentence.  And  we  know  this  was  not  by  order  of  the  presi- 
dent, which  renders  it  our  indisputable  duty  to  give  you  informa- 
tion thereof. 

President,  let  our  society  be  narrowly  examined,  and  if  fault 
is  found  in  us,  we  are  willing  to  suffer  the  punishment  we  merit. 

Confidently  expecting  your  favorable  reply,  we  have  the 
honor  of  saluting  you  most  respectfully. 

To  this  letter  the  president  did  not  reply,  but  ordered  those, 
who  had  been  arrested,  to  be  set  at  liberty.  Ten  days  after  the 
date  of  the  letter  to  the  president,  a  letter  was  wTitten,  from 
v/hich  the  following  paragraphs  are  taken.  The  concluding  sen- 
tences open  the  way  for  putting  a  favorable  construction  on  the 
intentions  of  the  president. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  433 

A  proclamation  was  made  in  the  name  of  General  Thomas, 
commandant  of  the  place,  to  prevent  any  one  from  throwing 
stones  at  the  Methodists,  forbidding  every  one  to  evil  entreat 
them,  or  to  go  before  their  houses  to  insult  them.  But  by  that 
proclamation  we  were  also  forbidden  to  meet  together,  and  in- 
formed that  should  we  m.eet,  the  police  are  ordered  to  arrest  us; 
but  as  for  the  people,  they  ought  not  to  interfere,  nor  throw 
stones,  because  we  are  citizens  of  the  republic.  This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  the  proclamation. 

Although  this  proclamation  was  made,  yet  the  people  did  not 
cease  to  ill  treat  us,  and  cry  after  us,  as  we  went  along.  General 
Thomas  gets  out  of  that  affair  by  saying,  that  they  only  made 
use  of  his  name  when  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  *'But,  take 
care,"  said  he,  "if  that  continue,  that  it  do  not  cost  the  life  of 
some  one." 

One  of  our  sisters  visited  the  president,  to  whom  she  made 
her  complaints,  and  informed  him  that  it  was  said,  that  it  was  by 
his  order  that  these  things  were  done.  He  received  her  very 
politely,  assured  her  that  this  was  not  so,  but  that  he  was  exceed- 
ingly sorry  that  we  should  be  improperly  treated,  and  that  he  had 
written  to  General  Thomas  to  that  effect,  and  if  the  general  did 
not  attend  to  his  orders  he  could  not  hold  any  command  in  the 
republic.  In  consequence  of  this  the  general  made  the  above 
proclamation.  The  president  also, told  her,  that  he  could  not 
allow  us  to  hold  our  meetings,  because  we  were  not  in  peace;  that 
France  was  proposing  to  march  upon  us,  etc.  Since  the  last  per- 
secution, we  enjoy,  by  the  grace  of  God,  the  means  of  praying, 
when  several  of  us  meet  together. 

Now,  dear  readers,  we  quote  historical  facts  regarding  the 

(28) 


iU  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


early  history  of  the  West  Indies  that  you  may  see  that  Spain  is  and 
always  was  a  most  cruel  and  ungodly  nation,  and  that  she  always 
was,  and  still  is,  a  Catholic  nation,  and  that  her  treatment  towards 
Protestants  has  always  been  just  as  the  powers  of  the  Vatican 
chose.  The  Papal  church  declares  that  it  is  a  fundamental  right 
given  by  God  to  that  church  to  destroy  and  persecute  Protest- 
ants, and  claim  by  destroying  them,  that  they  lessen  their  punish- 
ment in  hell;  therefore,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Catholic  Church  to 
destroy  all  Protestant  heretics.  Now,  kind  reader,  if  you  believe 
this  book  to  be  true,  which  you  most  surely  can  not  doubt,  as  the 
facts  stated  are  historical,  then  do  you  not  think  it  is  about  time 
to  put  on  the  armor  of  God  and  wear  it  to  the  ballot  box  and  see 
that  your  next  vote  is  cast  for  a  pure  American  Protestant.  May 
the  good  Lord  help  you  to  ponder  this  matter  day  and  night  until 
you  arrive  at  a  proper  and  definite  conclusion.  Don't  be  a  poli- 
tician; Don't  be  a  Democrat,  Republican  or  Populist,  but  in  the 
name  of  America,  be  an  American,  and  a  Protestant- American 
at  that. 


Poor  John  Mallott  being  punished  for  refusing  to  kiss  a  cross 
that  stands  in  front  of  St.  Anne's  church. 


Chapter  XXV. 


Has  Congress  Any  Right  to  Set  Aside  Vast  Sums 
of  Money  for  Catholic  Schools? 


Has  Congress  the  right  to  set  aside  vast  sums  of  public 
moneys  for  the  benefit  of  class  educational  institutions?  This 
is  a  subject  that  is  of  vital  interest  to  the  American  people  If 
Congress  has  this  right,  why  is  it  that  other  religious  denomina- 
tions do  not  make  a  demand  to  have  an  equal  amount  for  the 
support  of  their  schools,  as  the  Catholic  denomination  has  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ?  Have 
not  the  Baptists,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Christians,  the  United 
Brethren,  the  Methodists,  the  Congregationalists,  the  Lutherans, 
and  all  other  religious  denominations  the  same  right  as  the  Cath- 
olics ?  Most  assuredly  you  would  not  go  to  the  Catholic  Church 
to  find  the  brain  and  brawn  of  this  country.  Catholic  schools, 
are  not  schools,  they  are  nurseries  of  Catholicism;  they  are  hot 
beds  that  sprout  dissensions;  they  are  volcanic  mounds  that  spout 
dogmas  and  superstitions,  and  educate  their  scholars  to  despise 
Protestants  and  their  free  institutions;  they  are  schools  that  do 


438  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

not  teach  the  young  the  love  of  country,  but  teach  them  to  look 
upon  the  Pope  as  God,  having  the  power  to  damn  the  soul  long 
before  the  Judgment  Day.  Catholic  schools  teach  everything 
that  is  hateful  to  Protestants;  they  teach  that  the  flag,  that  grand 
old  emblem  of  liberty  is  to  be  hauled  down  and  trailed  in  the  dust 
at  the  bidding  of  an  Italian  pontiff.  Catholic  schools  teach  that 
your  children  and  mine  are  bastards,  simply  because  your  dear 
old  father  and  mother,  and  mine,  were  not  married  by  a  lustful 
priest  of  the  Romish  faith.  These  are  facts;  these  are  truths  that 
make  the  heart  of  every  American  sick;  then  in  the  name  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  in  the  name  of  America,  and  in  the 
name  of  a  living  God,  why  should  an  American  Congress  vote  pub- 
licmoneys  for  thesupportof  an  institution  that  has  been  grasping 
at  the  throat  of  American  liberties  ever  since  Columbus  discovered 
America  and  made  it  possible  for  the  oppressed  of  Catholic-cursed 
countries  to  flee  to  "A  land  of  the  free."  Catholic  schools  are 
schools  that  Protestants  cannot  send  their  children  to  without 
having  them  insulted,  and  the  memory  of  fathers  and  mothers 
vilified.  What  are  Protestant  schools?  Ah,  they  are  schools 
where  the  American  eagle  perches  upon  the  desk  of  every  little 
cherub;  they  are  schools  where  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
is  held  in  reverence;  they  are  schools  where  the  folds  of  the 
American  flag  twine  about  every  branch  of  instruction;  they  are 
schools  where  you  find  future  presidents,  and  boys  who  will 
clamber  to  the  dizzy  heights  of  fame  in  the  future,  and  will  look 
down  upon  the  polluted  walls  of  the  Vatican  with  the  disgust  that 
fills  the  soul  of  every  true,  pure,  loyal  Protestant-American.  The 
public  schools  of  America,  God  bless  them,  are  where  the  tiny  mind 
begins  to  soar,  and  where  the  great  men  and  good  women  of  this 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  439 

country  first  learn  the  alphabet  that  leads  to  fame.  The  public 
schools  of  America  are  where  the  boys  and  girls  are  taught  to  love 
their  government  for  its  manifold  blessings,  and  where  "Yankee- 
Doodle"  and  ''Dixie"  sets  the  little  hearts  aglow  and  causes 
shouts  to  echo  and  re-echo  from  the  hills  and  dales  wherever  "the 
little  red  school  house"  is  found.  Search  the  records  of  Catholic 
schools  and  tell  me  of  what  advantage  their  scholars  have  ever 
been  to  America,  and  then  begin  at  the  old  country  school  house, 
and  you  will  find  paths  leading  in  every  direction  that  meander 
to  the  crest  of  the  mountains  of  fame.  Learn  of  your  Congress- 
man how  much  money  belonging  to  the  government  has  been 
voted  to  Catholic  institutions  within  the  past  twenty-two  years, 
and  if  he  tells  you  the  truth  he  will  say  over  $17,000,000.  How 
much  to  Protestant  schools  ?  Not  a  dime.  Think  of  it,  $17,000,- 
000  given  to  a  sect  that  despises  American  institutions  and  de- 
tests everything  that  is  Protestant.  How  long  will  you  stand  it  ? 
How  long  will  you  seal  your  lips,  simply  because  you  "are  afraid 
you  will  make  the  Pope  or  some  of  his  followers  mad?" 

Catholic  schools  are  only  institutions  that  teach  ignorance, 
for  their  followers  after  leaving  these  schools  that  the  American 
Congress  appropriates  money  for,  grope  all  their  lives  in  dense 
ignorance.  Catholic  schools  are  only  preparatory  institutions, 
that  the  children  may  grow  up  to  make  obedient  and  hoodwinked 
Catholics,  to  be  led  about  at  the  will  of  lustful  priests. 

The  following  will  give  you  some  idea  of  the  products  of 
parochial  schools,  that  our  office-holders  vote  our  public  moneys 
to,  in  order  that  they  may  flourish.  The  confessional  box  comes 
from  Catholicism,  so  the  remainder  of  this  chapter  will  plainly 
show  you  what  the  confessional  box  is,  and  what  public  moneys 


440  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

are  used  for,  in  order  that  the  priestcraft,  through  the  orders  from 
Rome,  may  spread  her  black  wings  over  our  fair  land : 

"Through  the  confessional,  an  unfathomable  abyss  has  been 
dug  by  the  Church  of  Rome  between  the  heart  of  the  wife  and 
the  husband.  The  confesrsor  is  the  master,  the  ruler,  the  king  of 
the  soul :  the  husband,  as  the  grave-yard  keeper,  must  be  satisfied 
with  the  corpse. 

*Tn  the  Church  of  Rome  it  is  utterly  impossible  that  the  hus- 
band should  be  one  with  the  wife,  and  that  the  wife  should  be  one 
with  the  husband.  A  monstrous  being  has  been  put  between 
them  both,  called  the  confessor.  Born  in  the  darkest  ages  of  the 
world,  that  being  has  received  from  hell  his  mission  to  destroy 
and  contaminate  the  purest  joys  of  the  married  life, — to  enslave 
the  wife,  to  outrage  the  husband,  and  to  cheat  the  world.  The 
more  auricular  confession  is  practiced,  the  more  the  laws  of  pub- 
lic and  private  morality  are  trampled  under  foot." 

It  is  recorded  that  the  anaconda  takes  its  victim  to  its  place 
of  retreat,  covers  it  with  slime,  and  then  swallows  it.  "I  now  de- 
clare, most  solemnly  and  sincerely,  that  after  living  twenty-five 
years  in  full  communion  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
officiating  as  a  Romish  priest,  hearing  confessions  and  confessing 
myself,  I  know  not  another  reptile  in  all  animal  nature  so  much 
to  be  shunned  and  loathed  and  dreaded  by  females,  both  married 
and  single,  as  a  Roman  Catholic  priest  or  bishop  who  practices 
the  degrading  and  demoralizing  office  of  auricular  confession. 
Auricular  confession  is  nothing  but  a  systematic  preparation  for 
the  ruin  of  the  soul  of  the  guileless  and  guiltless  scholar."  So 
said  William  Hogan.  "Let  me,"  said  this  converted  priest,  "give 
American-Protestant  mothers  just  a  twilight  glance  at  the  ques- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  441 

tions  which  a  Romish  priest  asks  those  females  who  go  to  confes- 
sion to  him,  and  they  will  become  convinced  that  there  is  no 
poetry  in  what  I  say. 

"First  let  the  reader  bring  before  the  mind  a  picture  of  a 
young  lady  between  the  age  of  from  twelve  to  twenty,  on  her 
knees,  with  her  lips  nearly  close  pressed  to  the  cheeks  of  the  priest, 
who,  in  all  probability,  is  not  over  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of 
age.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  young  priests  are,  as  a  rule, 
extremely  zealous  in  the  discharge  of  their  sacerdotal  duties,  es- 
pecially in  hearing  confessions,  which  all  Roman  Catholics  are 
bound  to  make  under  pain  of  eternal  damnation.  When  priest 
and  penitent  are  placed  in  the  above  attitude,  let  us  suppose  the 
following  conversation  taking  place  between  them : — 

"Confessor.     What  sins  have  you  committed? 

"Penitent.     I  don't  know  any,  sir. 

"Con.  Are  you  sure  you  did  nothing  wrong?  Examine 
yourself  well. 

"Pen.  Yes;  I  do  recollect  that  I  did  wrong:  I  made  faces 
at  school  at  Lucy  A. 

"Con.     Nothing  else? 

"Pen.  Yes ;  I  told  mother  that  I  hated  Lucy  A.,  and  that 
she  was  an  ugly  thing. 

"Con.  .  (scarcely  able  to  suppress  a  smile  in  finding  the  girl 
so  innocent).     Have  you  had  any  immodest  thoughts? 

"Pen.     What  is  that,  sir? 

"Con.     Have  you  been  thinking  about  men? 

"Pen.     Why,  yes,  sir. 

"Con.     Are  you  fond  of  any  of  them  ? 

"Pen.     Why,  yes !  I  like  cousin  A.  or  R.  greatly. 


442  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


"Con. 

Do  you  like  him  very  much? 

"Pen. 

Oh,  no ! 

"Con. 

How  long  did  these  thoughts  about  him  continue? 

"Pen. 

Not  very  long. 

"Con. 

Had  you  these  thoughts  by  day  or  by  night  ? 

"Pen. 

By 

"In  this  strain  does  this  reptile  confessor  proceed,  till  his 
half-gained  prey  is  filled  with  ideas  and  thoughts  to  which  she 
has  been  hitherto  a  stranger.  He  tells  her  that  she  must  come  to- 
morrow. She  accordingly  comes,  and  he  gives  another  twist  to 
the  screw  which  he  has  now  firmly  fixed  upon  the  soul  and  body 
of  his  penitent.  Day  after  day,  week  after  week,  and  month  after 
month  does  this  hapless  girl  come  to  confession,  until  this  wretch 
has  worked  up  her  passions  to  a  tension  almost  snapping,  and 
then  becomes  his  easy  prey.  I  cannot  detail  the  whole  process  by 
which  a  Romish  confessor  debauches  his  victims  in  the  confes- 
sional; but  if  curiosity,  or  any  other  motive,  creates  in  the  public 
mind  a  desire  to  know  all  the  particulars,  I  refer  them  to  Dens* 
treatise,  'De  Peccatis'  which  is  taught  in  Maynooth  College  and 
elsewhere.  In  this,  and  in  Antoine's  'Moral  Theology,'  they  will 
find  the  obscene  question?  which  are  put  by  priests  and  bishops  of 
the  Romish  Church  to  all  women,  young  and  old,  married  or  sin- 
gle: and  if  any  married  man,  father,  or  brother  will,  after  the 
perusal  of  these  questions,  allow  his  wife  or  daughter  or  sister 
ever  again  to  go  to  confession,  I  will  only  say  that  his  ideas  of 
morality  are  more  vague  and  loose  than  those  of  the  heathen  or 
the  Turk." 

Protestants  think  that  confession  is  a  dread  to  Romanists. 
Far  from  it.    It  is,  with  many,  a  time  for  love-making,  for  pru- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  443 

rient  scandal,  for  plotting  against  the  peace  of  the  community. 
The  very  idea  of  it  is  made  a  delight,  rather  than  a  dread. 

The  Children's  Confession,  which  occurs  about  the  middle 
of  Lent,  illustrates  very  truthfully  the  way  in  which  Rome  sweet- 
ens the  pill  that  is  to  poison  the  soul. 

"Notice  is  given  to  the  congregation  the  Sabbath  before,  that 
every  father  of  a  family  may  send  his  children,  both  boys  and 
girls,  to  church,  on  the  day  appointed,  in  the  afternoon.  The 
mothers  dress  their  children  the  best  they  can  that  day,  and  give 
them  the  offering-money  for  the  expiation  of  their  sins.  That 
afternoon  is  a  holy  day  in  the  parish,  not  by  precept,  but  by  cus- 
tom'; for  no  parishioner,  either  young  or  old,  man  or  woman, 
misseth  to  go  and  hear  the  children's  confessions.  For  it  is  reck- 
oned among  them  a  greater  diversion  than  a  comedy,  as  you  may 
judge  by  the  following  account." 

"The  day  appointed,  the  children  repair  to  church  at  three 
o'clock,  where  the  priest  is  waiting  for  them  with  a  long  reed  in 
his  hand;  and  when  all  are  together  (sometimes  one  hundred  and 
fifty  in  number,  and  sometimes  less)  the  reverend  Father  placeth 
them  in  a  circle  round  himself,  and  then  kneeling  down  (the  chil- 
dren also  doing  the  same)  makes  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  says 
a  short  prayer.  This  done,  he  exhorteth  the  children  to  hide  no 
sin  from  him,  but  to  tell  him  all  they  have  committed.  Then  he 
strikes  with  his  reed  the  child  whom  he  designs  to  confess  first, 
and  asks  him  the  following  questions :" — 

Confessor.     "How  long  is  it  since  you  last  confessed?'* 

Boy.     "Father,  a  whole  year,  or  the  last  Lent/* 

Con.  "And  how  many  sins  have  you  committed  from  that 
time  to  now  ?" 

Boy.    "Two  dozen." 


444  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM, 

Now  the  confessor  asks  round  about : — 

Con.     "And  you?" 

Boy.     "A  thousand  and  ten." 

"Another  will  say,  'A  bag  full  of  small  lies,  and  ten  big  sins;' 
and  so  one  after  another  answers,  and  tells  many  childish  things." 

Con.  "But  pray,  you  say  that  you  have  committed  ten  big 
sins :  tell  me  how  big?" 

Boy.     "As  big  as  a  tree." 

Con.     "But  tell  me  the  sins." 

Boy.  "There  is  one  sin  I  committed,  which  I  dare  not  tell 
your  reverence  before  all  the  people;  for  somebody  here  present 
will  kill  me  if  he  heareth  me." 

Con.     "Well,  come  out  of  the  circle,  and  tell  it  to  me." 

"They  both  go  out,  and  w'hh  a  loud  voice  he  tells  him  that 
such  a  day  he  stole  a  nest-full  of  sparrows  from  a  tree,  of  another 
boy's,  and  that  if  he  knew  it  he  would  kill  him.  Then  both  come 
again  into  the  circle,  and  the  Father  asks  other  boys  and  girls  so 
many  ridiculous  questions,  and  the  children  answer  him  so  many 
pleasant,  innocent  things,  that  the  congregation  laughs  all  the 
while.  One  will  say  that  his  sins  are  red;  another,  that  one  oi 
his  sins  is  white,  one  black,  and  one  green;  and  in  these  trifling 
questions  they  spend  two  hours'  time.  When  the  congregation 
is  weary  of  laughing,  the  confessor  gives  the  children  a  correc^- 
tion,  and  bids  them  not  to  sin  any  more,  for  a  black  boy  takes 
along  with  him  the  wicked  children.  Then  he  asks  the  offering, 
and  after  he  has  got  all  from  them,  gives  them  the  penance  for 
their  sins.  To  one  he  says  T  give  you  for  penance  to  eat  a  sweet 
cake;'  to  another,  not  to  go  to  school  the  day  following;  to  an- 
other, to        re  his  mother  to  buy  him  a  new  hat;  and  such  things 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  445 

as  these;  and  pronouncing  the  words  of  absolution,  he  dismisseth 
the  congregation  with  Amen,  so  be  it,  ever}^  year." 

These  are  the  first  foundations  of  the  Romish  religion  for 
youth.  From  seven  to  fifteen  there  is  no  extraordinary  thing, 
unless  some  girl  begins  at  twelve  years  a  lewd  life,  and  then  the 
confessor  finds  business  and  pleasure  enough  when  she  comes  to 
confess. 

A  private  confession  of  a  child  is  described  by  Father  Chini- 
quy.  "On  the  Sabbath  previous  the  priest  had  said,  'Make  your 
children  understand  that  this  act  of  confession  is  one  of  the  most 
important  in  their  lives,  that  for  every  one  of  them  it  will  decide 
their  eternal  happiness  or  misery.  Fathers  or  mothers,  if  through 
your  fault  or  his  own  your  child  is  guilty  of  a  bad  confession, — 
if  he  conceals  his  sins,  and  commences  lying  to  the  priest,  who 
holds  the  place  of  God  himself, — this  sin  is  often  irreparable.  The 
Devil  will  take  possession  of  his  heart;  he  will  become  accus- 
tomed to  lie  to  his  father  confessor,  or  rather  to  Jesus  Christ  of 
whom  he  is  a  representative.  His  life  will  be  a  series  of  sacri- 
leges; his  death  and  eternity,  those  of  the  reprobate.  Teach  him, 
therefore,  to  examine  thoroughly  his  actions,  words,  and  thoughts 
in  order  to  confess  without  disguise." 

"At  last  the  moment  came.  Young  Chiniquy  knelt  at  the 
side  of  his  confessor,  and  repeated  the  prayer.  T  do  confess  to 
Almighty  God,  to  the  blessed  Mary,  always  a  Virgin,  to  the 
blessed  Archangel  Michael,  to  the  blessed  John  the  Baptist,  to  the 
holy  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  all  the  saints,  and  to  thee,  O 
Father,  that  I  have  too  much  sinned  by  thought,  word,  and  deed, 
by  my  fault,  by  my  greatest  fault.  Therefore  I  beseech  the 
blessed  Mary,  always  a  Virgin,  the  blessed  Archangel  Michael, 


m  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


the  blessed  John  the  Baptist,  the  holy  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
all  the  saints,  and  thee,  O  Father,  to  pray  to  God  our  Lord  for 
me.  Amen."  This  done,  the  penitent  raises  him  from  his  pros- 
tration to  his  knees,  and  touching  with  his  lip  either  the  ear  or 
cheek  of  the  spiritual  father,  begins  to  discover  his  sins  by  the 
Ten  Commandments.  And  here  we  give  a  translation  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  word  for  word.  "The  commandments  of 
the  law  of  God  are  ten !  the  three  first  do  pertain  to  the  honor 
of  God,  and  the  other  seven  to  the  benefit  of  our  neighbor. 

I.  Thou  shalt  love  God  above  all  things. 

II.  Thou  shalt  not  swear. 

III.  Thou  shalt  sanctify  the  holy  days. 

VI.  Thou  shalt  honor  thy  father  and  mother. 

v.  Thou  shalt  not  kill. 

VI.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  fornication. 

VII.  Thou  shalt  not  steal. 

VIII.     Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  nor  lie. 

IX.  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife. 

X.  Thou  shalt  not  covet  the  things  Which  are  another's." 

"The  last  commandment  is  divided  into  two  to  make  out  the 
number.  The  sixth  with  Rome  is  the  seventh  in  the  Bible.  The 
second  is  dropped  out. 

"The  commandments  of  the  Holy  Mother  Church  are  seven. 
T.  To  hear  mass  on  Sundays  and  Holy  days.  2.  To  confess  at 
least  once  a  year,  and  oftener  if  there  be  danger  of  death.  3. 
To  receive  the  eucharist.  4.  To  fast.  5.  To  pay  tithes,  besides 
the  tenth,  one-thirtieth  part  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  towards 
the  repair  o^  '  j  church  and  the  vestments." 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  441 

The  seven  sacraments  are:  "i.  Baptism.  2.  Confirma- 
tion. 3.  Penance.  4.  The  Lord's  Supper.  5.  Extrme  Unction. 
6.  Holy  Orders.    7.  Matrimony.     Amen." 

Then  came  the  confession  of  sins.  Young  Chiniquy  had 
iaughed  at  the  priest.  He  confessed  it.  He  says,  "When  I  had 
confessed  all  the  sins  I  could  remember,  the  priest  began  to  ask 
me  the  strangest  questions  on  matters  about  which  my  pen  must 
be  silent.  I  replied,  'Father,  I  do  not  understand  what  you  ask 
me.' 

"  T  question  you  on  the  sixth  commandment  [seventh  in 
the  Bible].  Confess  all.  You  will  go  to  hell  if  through  your 
fault  you  omit  any  thing.'  Thereupon  he  dragged  my  thoughts 
to  regions  which,  thank  God,  had  hitherto  been  unknown  to  me. 

*T  answered  him,  T  do  not  understand  you,'  or  T  have  never 
done  these  things.' 

"Then  skilfully  shifting  to  some  secondary  matter,  he  would 
soon  slyly  and  cunningly  come  back  to  his  favorite  subject,  name- 
ly, sins  of  licentiousness.  His  questions  were  so  unclean  that  I 
blushed,  and  felt  sick  with  disgust  and  shame."  Remember, 
young  Chiniquy  had  doubtless  been  converted  when  a  child.  He 
had  read  the  Bible,  despite  the  priest,  through  again  and  again 
and  had  committed  to  memory  vast  portions  of  it,  which  he  was 
accustomed  to  repeat  in  the  hearing  of  his  neighbors.  He  was 
trained  by  a  noble  Christian  mother.  He  said,  "More  than  once 
I  had  been,  to  my  regret,  in  the  company  of  bad  boys;  but  not 
one  of  them  had  offended  my  moral  nature  so  much  as  this  priest 
had  done.  Not  one  of  them  had  ever  approached  the  shadow  of 
the  things  from  wbich  that  man  tore  the  veil,  and  which  he  placed 
before  the  eye  of  my  soul.    In  vain  did  I  tell  him  that  I  was  not 


448  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

guilty  of  such  things;  that  I  did  not  even  understand  what  he 
asked  me;  he  would  not  let  me  off.  Like  the  vulture  bent  upon 
tearing  the  poor  bird  that  falls  into  his  claws,  that  cruel  priest 
seemed  determined  to  defile  and  ruin  my  heart. 

"At  last  he  asked  me  a  question  in  a  form  of  expression  so 
bad  that  I  was  really  pained.  I  felt  as  if  I  had  received  a  shock 
from  an  electric  battery;  a  feeling  of  horror  made  me  shud- 
der. I  was  so  filled  with  indignation  that,  speaking  loud  enough 
to  be  heard  by  many,  I  told  him,  'Sir,  I  am  very  wicked;  I  have 
seen,  heard,  done  many  things  which  I  regret;  but  I  never  was 
guilty  of  what  you  mention  to  me.  My  ears  have  never  heard 
anything  so  wicked  as  what  they  have  heard  from  your  lips. 
Please  do  not  ask  me  any  more  of  those  questions;  do  not  teach 
me  more  evil  than  I  already  know.'  He  gave  me  a  short  penance, 
and  dismissed  me." 

Chiniquy  left  the  confessional  humbled,  disgraced  in  his 
own  eyes,  and  outraged.  He  went  to  his  uncle's  house,  who  had 
the  name  of  being  a  Roman  Catholic,  yet  who  did  not  believe  a 
word  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Church.  He  laughed  at  the 
priests,  their  masses,  their  purgatory,  and  especially  their  confes- 
sion. He  did  not  conceal  that  when  young,  he  had  been  scandal- 
ized by  the  words  and  actions  of  a  priest  at  the  confessional.  "He 
spoke  to  me  jestingly :  'You  will  now  be  a  good  boy.  But  if  you 
have  heard  as  many  things  as  I  did  the  first  time  I  went  to  confess, 
you  are  a  very  learned  boy,'  and  he  burst  into  laughter. 

"I  blushed,  and  remained  silent.  My  aunt  who  was  a  de- 
voted Roman  Catholic,  said  to  me,  'Your  heart  is  relieved,  is  it 
not,  since  you  confessed  all  your  sins?'  I  gave  her  an  evasive 
answer,  but  I  could  not  conceal  that  sadness  overcame  me.    I 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  449 

thought  I  was  the  only  one  from  whom  the  priest  had  asked  these 
polluting  questions.  But  great  was  my  surprise,  on  the  following 
day,  when  going  to  school,  I  learned  that  my  fellow-pupils  had 
not  been  more  fortunate  than  I  had  been.  The  only  difference 
was,  that  instead  of  being  grieved,  they  laughed  at  it.  'Did  the 
priest  ask  you  such  and  such  questions?'  they  would  demand, 
laughing  boisterously.  I  refused  to  reply,  and  asked :  'Are  you 
not  ashamed  to  speak  of  such  things  ?' 

"  'Ah !  ah !  how  very  scrupulous  you  are/  continued  they. 
'If  it  is  not  a  sin  for  the  priest  to  speak  to  us  on  these  matters, 
how  can  it  be  a  sin  for  us  ?'  I  soon  perceived  that  even  the  young 
school  girls  had  not  been  less  polluted  and  scandalized  by  the 
questions  of  the  priest,  than  the  boys.  I  should  be  misunderstood 
v/ere  it  supposed  that  I  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  this  priest 
was  more  to  blame  than  others,  or  that  he  did  more  to  fulfill  the 
duties  of  the  ministry  in  asking  these  questions.  He  was  obeying 
the  Pope  and  his  theologians.  He  was,  as  I  have  been  myself, 
bound  hand  and  foot  at  the  feet  of  the  greatest  enemy  that  the 
holiness  and  truth  of  God  have  ever  had  on  earth:  the  Pope. 
The  priest  of  Rome  is  an  automaton, — machine  which  acts, 
thinks,  and  speaks  in  matters  of  morals  and  of  faith,  only  accord- 
ing to  the  order  and  the  -will  of  the  Pope  and  his  theologians.  He 
had  read  Liguori,  Dens,  Debreyne,  authors  approved  by  the  pope, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  take  darkness  for  light." 

Can  Americans  realize  that  the  children  of  Romanists  are 
exposed  to  this  demoralizing  influence,  and  not  feel  that  some- 
thing ought  to  be  done  to  let  in  the  light  upon  this  terrible  night 
of  darkness  and  of  death? 

Two  methods  are  practiced,  because  there  are  two  classes  of 

09) 


450  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 


people  to  be  confessed, — the  learned  and  the  unlearned:  The 
learned  confess  by  these  three  general  heads,  thought,  word,  and 
deed,  reducing  them  into  all  sorts  of  sins.  The  unlearned  confess 
by  the  Ten  Commandments,  discovering  by  them  all  the  mortal 
sins  which  they  have  committed  since  their  last  confession.  Ven- 
al sins,  or  sins  of  small  matter,  are  washed  away  by  the  sign  of 
the  cross  or  by  sprinkling  the  face  with  the  holy  water.  To  the 
discovery  of  the  mortal  sins,  the  father  confessor  doth  very  much 
help  the  penitent;  for  he  sometimes,  out  of  zeal,  but  most  com- 
monly out  of  curiosity,  asks  them  many  questions  to  know  wheth- 
er they  do  remember  all  their  sins  or  not.  ''By  these  and  the 
like  questions,  the  confessors  do  more  mischief  than  good,  espe- 
cially to  the  ignorant  people  and  young  women;  for  perhaps  they 
do  not  know  what  simple  fornication  is;  what  voluntary  or  invol- 
untary pollution;  what  impure  desire;  w.hat  simple  motion  of  our 
hearts;  what  relapse,  re-incidence,  or  reiteration  of  sins;  and  the 
like;  and  then  by  the  confessor's  indiscreet  questions,  the  peni- 
tents learn  things  of  which  they  never  had  dreamed  before,  and 
tliey  go  home  with  liglit,  knov/ledge,  and  an  idea  of  sins  un- 
known to  them  before." 

Take  this  as  an  illustration  of  the  method  and  the  mischief. 

A  Young  Woman  Enters  the  Confessional. 

Confessor,  after  asking  Mary  to  give  the  commandments 
of  the  holy  Church,  and  the  sacraments,  then  taking  up  the  com- 
mandments, asks,  "How  long  is  it  since  3^ou  last  confessed?" 

Mary.     "It  is  two  years  and  two  months." 

Confessor.  "You  see  in  the  second  commandment  of  the 
Church  and  in  the  third  among  the  sacraments  that  you  are 
obliged  to  confess  every  year.     Why,  then,  have  you  neglected 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  451 

so  much  longer  time  to  fulfill  the  precept  of  the  holy  mother?" 
She  gives  a  reason,  a  shameful  act  with  a  man  now  dead,  and  she 
now  determines  to  retire  to  a  monastery. 

The  confessor  urges  her  to  make  a  clean  breast  of  her  sins, 
which  she  does. 

Con.  '  "Have  you  constantly  frequented  the  assemblies  of 
the  faithful,  and  heard  mass  on  Sundays  and  holy  days  ?" 

Mary.  "No,  father.  Sometimes  I  have  been  four  months 
without  going  to  church." 

Con.  "You  have  done  a  great  injury  to  your  soul,  and  you 
have  given  a  great  scandal  to  your  neighbors."  Her  sin  in  living 
in  adulterous  intercourse  with  Don  Francisco  is  not  even  re- 
ferred to. 

Con.  "Did  it  come  into  your  mind  that  God  would  punish 
you  for  your  sins  ?" 

Mary.  "Yea,  father;  but  the  Virgin  Mary  is  my  advocate. 
I  kept  her  image  by  my  bedside,  and  used  to  address  my  prayer 
to  her  every  night,  before  I  went  to  bed,  and  I  always  had  a  great 
hope  in  her." 

Con.  "If  your  devotion  to  the  Virgin  Mary  is  so  fervent, 
j'ou  must  believe  that  your  heart  is  moved  to  repentance  by  her 
influence  and  mediation,  and  I  charge  you  to  continue  the  same 
devotion  while  you  live,  and  fear  nothing  afterwards." 

Mary.     "This  is  my  design." 

Con.  "Go  on."  The  confessions  of  the  several  command- 
ments are  trivial. 

The  sixth  commandment  (the  seventh  in  the  Bible)  was 
broken.  Speaking  of  her  friend,  she  said,  "For  two  years  we 
loved  in  innocence;  but  at  last  he  discovered  to  me  one  day,  when 


452  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

cur  parents  were  abroad,  the  great  inclination  he  had  for  me; 
and  that  having  grown  to  a  passion,  and  this  to  an  inexpressible 
love,  he  could  no  longer  hide  it  from  me;  that  his  design  was  to 
marry  me  as  soon  as  his  father  died,  and  that  he  was  willing  to 
give  me  all  the  proofs  of  sincerity  and  unfeigned  love  I  could  de- 
sire from  him.  To  this  I  answered  that  if  it  was  so,  I  was 
ready  to  promise  never  to  marry  another  during  his  life.  To  this 
be  took  a  sign  of  the  crucifix  in  his  hands,  and,  bowing  down  be- 
fore an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  called  the  four  elements  to  be 
witnesses  of  the  sincerity  of  his  vows,  nay,  all  the  saints  of  the 
heavenly  court  to  appear  against  him  in  the  day  of  judgment, 
if  he  was  not  true  in  heart  and  words,  and  said,  that  by  the  cruci- 
fix in  his  hands,  and  by  the  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  then  pres- 
ent, he  promised  and  swore  never  to  marry  another  during  my 
life.  I  answered  him  in  the  same  manner;  and  ever  since  we  have 
lived  with  the  familiarities  of  husband  and  wife.  The  effect  of 
this  reciprocal  promise  was  the  ruin  of  my  soul,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  my  sinful  life ;  for  ever  since  I  minded  nothing  else,  but 
to  please  him,  and  myself  when  I  had  an  opportunity." 

Con.     "How  often  did  he  visit  you  ?" 

Mary.     "The  first  year  he  came  several  times." 

Con.     "Did  any  effect  of  these  visits  come  to  light?" 
Mary.     "No,  father.    It  would,  had  I  not  been  so  barbarous 

and  inhuman  as  to  prevent  it,  by  a  remedy  I  took  which  answered 

my  purpose." 


'NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DhEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  45S 

Con.  "And  how  could  you  get  the  remedy,  there  being  a 
rigorous  law  against  it?" 

The  answer  introduces  the  reader  to  a  friar,  a  cousin  by  re- 
lation, who  gave  her  the  medicine,  and  because  of  her  obligation 
to  him  she  was  compelled  to  take  it. 

Con.  "Do  you  design  to  continue  the  same  life  with  your 
cousin  for  fear  of  being  discovered  ?" 

Mary.  "No,  father,  for  he  is  sent  to  another  convent  to  be 
professor  of  divinity  for  three  years;  and  if  he  comes  back  again, 
he  shall  find  me  in  a  monastery,  and  then  I  will  be  free  and  safe 
from  his  wicked  attempts." 

Con.  "Have  you  transgressed  the  fourth  commandment  of 
the  Church?" 

Mary.     "Yea,  father." 

Con.     "Have  you  taken  the  bull  of  indulgences  ?" 

Mary.     "Yea,  father." 

Con.  "Have  you  visited  five  altars,  the  days  appointed  for 
his  Holiness  to  take  a  soul  out  of  purgatory  ?" 

Mary.     "I  did  not  for  several  days." 

Con.  "Now,  to  show  your  obedience  to  God  and  our  moth- 
er the  Church,  you  must  perform  the  following  penance :  You 
must  fast  every  second  day,  to  mortify  your  lusts  and  passions, 
and  this  for  the  space  of  two  months;  you  must  visit  five  altars 
every  second  day  and  one  privileged  altar,  and  say  in  each  of  them 
five  times  Pater  Noster,  etc.,  and  five  times  Ave  Mary,  etc.  You 
must  say,  too,  every  day  for  two  months'  time,  three  and  thirty 


454  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

t?mes,  the  Creed,  in  honor  and  memory  of  the  three  and  thirty- 
years  that  our  Savior  did  Hve  upon  the  earth ;  and  you  must  con- 
fess once  a  Week;  and  by  the  continuance  of  these  spiritual  exer- 
cises, your  soul  may  be  preserved  from  several  temptations,  and 
may  be  happy  forever." 

Mary.     "I  will  do  all  that  with  the  help  of  God." 
Con.     "Say  the  act  of  contrition  by  which  I  absolve  you." 
Mary.    "O  God,  my  God !  I  have  sinned  against  thee,  I  am 
heartily  sorry." 

Con.  "Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  absolve  thee;  and  by  the  au- 
thority given  me,  I  absolve  thee." 

Here  We  see  forms  and  words  take  the  place  of  repentance, 
and  acts  of  the  individual  do  away  with  faith  in  the  cleansing 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  this  is  Romanism  at  its  best. 

Take  now  this  story  as  told  by  a  Jesuit  priest.  It  is  the  pri- 
vate confession  of  Father  Garca,  a  Jesuit :  "A  woman  of  thirty- 
three  years  of  age  came  to  confess  to  me,  and  told  me  that  from 
sixteen  years  of  age  until  twenty- four,  she  had  committed  all 
sorts  of  lewdness,  only  with  ecclesiastical  persons,  having  in 
every  convent  a  friar,  who,  under  the  name  of  cousin,  did  use  to 
visit  her.  At  last  she  dreamed  that  the  Devil  was  free  with  her, 
and  she  was  delivered  of  a  boy,  and  that  she  knew  no  man  for 
fourteen  months.  This  so  distressed  her  that  she  threatened  to 
lay  hands  on  herself.  The  inquisitors  sent  for  the  woman  and 
her  maid,  and  discovered  the  story.  It  was  this.  Father  Canchil- 
los,  Victorian  friar,  was  in  love  with  the  woman,  but  she  could 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  455 

not  bear  the  sight  of  him.  He  gained  the  maid,  by  putting  some 
opium  into  her  mistress's  supper;  she  fell  fast  asleep,  and  it  was 
learned  that  her  child  was  not  the  son  of  the  Devil,  but  of  Father 
Canchillos.  The  friar  was  put  into  the  Inquisition  for  having  per- 
suaded the  maid  to  tell  the  mistress  that  it  was  the  Devil ;  for  she 
had  been  under  the  same  fear,  and  really  she  was  in  the  same  con- 
dition." 

This  private  confession  of  a  priest  is  an  eye-opener  for  those 
who  believe  in  the  immaculate  character  of  the  priesthood. 

Don  Paulo  says,  "Since  God  Almighty  is  pleased  to  visit  me 
with  sickness,  I  ought  to  make  good  use  of  the  time  I  have  to  live, 
and  I  desire  of  you  to  help  me  with  your  prayers,  and  to  take  the 
trouble  to  write  some  substantial  points  of  my  confession,  that 
you  may  perform,  after  my  death,  whatever  may  enable  me  to 
discharge  my  duty  towards  God  and  men.  When  I  was  ordained 
priest,  I  made  a  general  confession  of  all  my  sins.  I  had  served 
m>y  parish  sixteen  years,  and  all  my  care  has  been  to  discover  the 
tempers  and  inclinations  of  my  parishioners;  there  are  in  my 
parish  sixteen  hundred  families,  and  more  or  less  I  have  defrauded 
them  all  some  way  or  other. 

"My  thoughts  have  been  impure  ever  since  I  began  to  hear 
confessions;  my  wior.ds  have  been  grave  and  severe  with  them  all, 
and  all  my  parishioners  have  respected  and  feared  me.  I  have 
had  so  great  an  empire  over  them,  that  some  of  them,  knowing  of 
my  misdoings,  have  taken  my  defense  in  public.  I  have  omitted 
nothing  to  please  them  in  outward  appearance,  but  my  actions 


456  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

have  been  the  most  criminal  of  mankind ;  for,  as  to  my  ecclesiasti- 
cal duty,  what  I  have  done  has  been  for  custom's  sake. 

"As  to  the  confessions  and  wills  I  have  received  from  my 
parishioners  at  the  point  of  death,  I  do  confess  I  have  made  my- 
self master  of  as  much  as  I  could,  and  by  that  means  I  have  gath- 
ered together  all  my  riches.  As  to  my  duty  towards  God,  I  am 
guilty  to  the  highest  degree,  for  I  have  not  loved  Him;  I  have 
neglected  to  say  the  private  divine  service  every  day.  I  have  pro- 
cured by  remedies,  sixty  abortions,  making  the  fathers  of  chil- 
dren their  murderers,  besides  many  others  intended,  though  not 
executed,  by  some  unexpected  accident.  I  confess  that  I  have 
frequented  the  parish  club  twelve  years.  We  were  only  six  parish 
priests  in  it,  and  then  we  did  consult  and  contrive  all  the  ways  to 
satisfy  our  passions.  Each  had  a  list  of  the  handsomest  women 
in  the  parish ;  and  when  one  had  a  fancy  to  see  any  woman  re- 
markable for  her  beauty  in  another's  parish,  the  priest  of  the  par- 
ish sent  for  her  to  his  own  house.  Our  method  has  been,  to  per- 
suade the  husbands  and  fathers  not  to  hinder  them  any  spiritual 
comfort,  and  to  the  ladies  to  persuade  them  to  be  subject  to  our 
advice  and  will ;  and  that  in  so  doing  they  should  have  liberty  at 
any  time  to  go  out  on  a  pretence  of  communicating  some  spiritual 
business  to  the  priest.  And  if  they  refused  to  do  it,  then  we  should 
speak  to  their  husbands  and  fathers  not  to  let  them  go  out  at  all, 
or,  which  would  be  worse  for  them,  we  should  inform  against 
them  to  the  holy  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition.  And  by  these  diabol- 
ical persuasions  they  were  at  our  command,  without  fear  of  re- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  457 

vealing  the  secret.  I  have  spared  no  woman  of  my  parish,  whom 
I  had  a  fancy  for,  and  many  other  of  my  brethren's  parishes;  but 
I  cannot  tell  the  number.  I  have  sixty  nepotes  alive  of  several 
women;  but  my  principal  care  ought  to  be  of  those  that  I  have 
by  two  young  women  I  keep  at  home  since  their  parents  died. 
Both  are  sisters,  and  I  had  by  the  eldest  two  boys,  and  by  the 
youngest  one.  The  one  I  had  by  my  own  sister  is  dead.  There- 
fore I  leave  to  my  sister  five  thousand  pistoles,  on  condition  that 
she  enter  St.  Bernard's  Monastery,  and  upon  the  same  conditions 
I  bequeath  a  like  amount  to  the  two  above  mentioned." 

A  Female  Inmate's  Statement. 

"An  hour  in  the  confessional  was  but  a  criminal  tete-a-tete.  I 
perceived  that  my  confessor  was  as  depraved  as  myself.  When 
the  course  of  my  convent  instruction  was  finished,  my  parents 
called  me  back  to  their  home.  I  was  really  glad  of  the  change  of 
residence,  for  I  was  beginning  to  be  tired  of  my  criminal  life. 
My  hope  was,  that,  under  the  directions  of  a  better  confessor,  I 
should  reconcile  myself  to  God,  and  begin  a  Christian  life.  Un- 
fortunately for  me,  my  new  confessor,  who  was  very  young,  be- 
gan also  his  interrogation.  He  soon  fell  in  love  with  me,  and  I 
loved  him  in  a  most  criminal  way.  I  have  done  with  him  things 
which  I  hope  you  will  never  request  me  to  reveal  to  you ;  for  they 
are  too  monstrous  to  be  repeated  even  in  my  confessional,  by  a 
woman  to  a  man.  It  is  my  fault.  I  believe  he  was  a  good  priest 
before  he  knew  me ;  but  the  questions  he  put  to  me,  and  the  an- 


458  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

swers  I  had  to  give  him,  melted  his  heart, — I  know  it, — just  as 
boiling  lead  would  melt  the  ice  on  which  it  flows. 

"  'You  understand,  I  have  given  up  my  last  confessor.  T  have 
two  favors  to  ask.  One,  that  you  will  never  seek  to  ascertain  my 
name;  second,  that  you  will  never  put  to  me  any  of  those  ques- 
tions by  which  so  many  penitents  are  lost,  and  so  many  priests 
forever  destroyed.  Twice  I  have  been  lost  by  those  questions. 
We  come  to  our  confessors  that  they  may  throw  upon  our  guilty 
souls  the  pure  waters  which  flow  from  heaven  to  purify  us ;  but, 
instead  of  that,  with  their  unmentionable  questions,  they  pour 
oil  on  the  burning  fires  which  are  already  raging  in  our  poor  sim- 
ple hearts.  Oh,  dear  father,  let  me  become  your  penitent,  that 
you  may  help  me  to  go  with  Magdalene,  and  weep  at  the  Savior's 
feet!  Do  respect  me,  as  he  respected  that  true  model  of  all  the 
sinful  but  repenting  women !  Did  he  extort  from  her  the  history 
of  things  which  a  sinful  woman  cannot  say  without  forgetting 
the  respect  she  owes  to  herself  and  to  God  ?  No !  You  told  us, 
not  long  ago,  that  the  only  thing  our  Savior  did  Was  to  look  at 
her  tears  and  her  love.  Well,  please  do  that,  and  you  will  save 
me.'  "  Cannot  Romanists  see  this  ?  Christ,  without  a  priest,  is 
the  Savior.  Father  Chiniquy  encouraged  her  as  best  he  could, 
and  went  to  his  confessor,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canada, 
and  asked  if  he  might  forego  the  questions.  His  reply  was  in  the 
negative.  "Such  cases  as  the  destruction  of  female  virtue  by  the 
questions  of  the  confessors  is  an  unavoidable  evil.  Such  ques- 
tions are  necessary . . . ., 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  459 

"You  must  not  be  discouraged  when,  through  the  confes- 
sional or  any  other  way,  you  learn  the  fall  of  priests,  into  th€ 
common  frailties  of  human  nature  with  their  penitents.  Our 
Savior  knew  very  well  that  the  occasions  and  the  temptations 
we  have  to  encounter  in  the  confessions  of  girls  and  women,  are 
so  numerous  and  irresistible  that  many  would  fall.  But  he  has 
given  them  the  holy  Virgin  Mary,  who  constantly  asks  and  de- 
mands their  pardon;  he  has  given  them  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance, when  they  can  receive  their  pardon  as  often  as  they  ask  for 
it.  The  vow  of  perfect  chastity  is  a  great  honor  and  privilege; 
but  we  cannot  conceal  from  ourselves  that  it  puts  on  our  shoulders 
a  burden  which  many  cannot  carry  forever.  St.  Liguori  says  that 
we  must  not  rebuke  the  penitent  priest  who  falls  once  a  month; 
and  some  other  trustworthy  theologians  are  still  more  charit- 
able/' 

As  a  result,  the  young  woman  sought  to  make  confession 
without  hearing  or  answering  the  questions.  As  a  priest,  Father 
Chiniquy  was  compelled  to  say  that  it  could  not  be  done.  With 
a  piercing  cry,  she  exclaimed,  "Then,  0  my  God!  I  am  lost,  for- 
ever lost,"  and  fainted  away.  She  was  carried  home.  On  her 
death-bed  Christ  came  to  her  in  answer  to  prayer,  and  gave  her  a 
peace  that  passeth  knowledge.  Without  the  help  of  the  priest  she 
fought  the  battle,  saying,  "I  shall  not  be  lost."  "On  one  occasion 
she  calmly,  but  with  an  air  of  dignity,  asked,  'Is  it  true,  that,  after 
the  sins  of  Adam  and  Eve,  God  himself  made  coats  and  skins, 
and  clothed  them,  that  they  might  not  see  each  other's  naked- 


460  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

ness  ?' — 'Yes/  I  said.    'This  is  what  the  Holy  Scriptures  tell  us.* 

"  'Well,  then,  how  is  it  possible  that  our  confessors  dare  to 
take  away  from  us  that  holy  divine  coat  of  modesty  and  self- 
respect?  Has  not  Almighty  God  himself  made,  with  His  own 
hands,  that  coat  of  womanly  modesty  and  self-respect,  that  we 
might  be  to  you  and  to  ourselves  a  cause  of  shame  and  sin?"  ' 

Her  words  demolished  the  traditions  of  the  Church,  and 
pulverized  the  doctrines  of  her  theologians. 

"After  a  time  she  continued,  'Twice  I  have  been  destroyed 
by  priests  at  the  confessional.  They  took  away  from  me  that 
divine  coat  of  modesty  and  self-respect  which  God  gives  to  every 
human  being  who  comes  into  the  world,  and  twice  I  have  become 
lor  those  very  priests  a  pit  of  deep  perdition  into  which  they  have 
fallen,  and  where  I  fear  they  are  forever  lost.  My  merciful 
Father  has  given  me  back  that  coat  of  skins,  that  nuptial  robe  of 
modesty,  self-respect,  and  holiness,  w^hich  had  been  taken  away 
from  me.  He  cannot  allow  you  or  any  other  man  to  tear  again 
and  spoil  that  vestment  which  is  the  work  of  His  hands.' 

"The  revelation  of  the  unmentionable  corruptions  directly 
and  unavoidably  engendered  by  auricular  confession,  had  come  to 
me  from  the  lips  of  that  young  lady,  as  the  first  rays  of  the  sun 
which  were  to  hurl  back  the  dark  clouds  of  night  by  which  Rome 
had  wrapped  my  intelligence  on  that  subject. 

"Had  this  young  person  been  the  only  one  to  tell  me  that,  I 
might  still  have  held  some  doubt  about  the  diabolical  origin  of  that 
institution.    But  thousands  and  thousands  before  and  after  her 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  4gl 

have  shown  me  that  auricular  confession,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, drags  both  the  confessor  and  his  female  penitents  into  a 
common  and  irreparable  ruin."  Hence  a  law  ought  to  be  passed 
making  auricular  confession  a  crime,  and  then  woman  in  the 
Roman-Catholic  Church  would  be  emancipated. 

Americans!  the  foregoing  class  of  scoundrels  are  the  ones 
who  handle  the  money  that  your  and  my  Congressman  vote  the 
public  money  to.  Do  you  like  it?  If  you  do  not  then  be  men  and 
demand  of  your  office-seekers  whether  or  not  they  expect  to  cater 
to  Catholicism  if  elected.  Make  them  speak  out  publicly  and 
definitely  themselves  on  the  question  of  Catholicism. 


Torturing  Protestant  Missionaries  in  the  Philippine  Islands  to  force 
them  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Catholicism. 


Chapter  XXVI. 


A  Home  Ruined,  a  Husband  Crazed,  a  Wife 
Disgraced,  a  Priest  Unpunished. 


A   NEBRASKA   EPISODE. 


[Romish  degenerates  make  history  so  rapidly  that  it  is  a  Herculean  task  to  chronicle 
their  putrid  deeds  as  committed.  This  chapter  is  a  supplement  to  this  book  as  the  book  had 
been  completed  before  the  ruin  of  this  home  had  been  added  to  the  long  list  of  the  disgrace- 
ful deeds  of  Priests]. 

In  the  little  village  of  Steinauer,  Nebraska,  a  man  and  wo- 
man whose  every  thought  was  love,  lived  happily.  They  were 
poor,  but  honorable.  They  were  Catholics.  In  this  little  village 
dwelt  Joseph  Rheinhart;  he  was  a  Catholic  priest.  Adam  Schmit 
was  married;  he  loved  his  wife, — loved  her  with  a  devotion  that 
any  woman  might  be  proud  of.  Their  home  was  humble,  but 
happy.  On  July  the  5th  last,  we  see  poor  Adam  Schmit  take  up 
his  dinner  pail  to  go  to  his  day's  labor,  but  before  going  he  ten- 
derly embraces  his  wife,  and  impresses  upon  her  lips  a  kiss  that 
fairly  burns  with  love, — we  see  him  as  he  reaches  the  top  of  the 
hill  tenderly  look  back  at  his  little  home,  in  hopes  of  again  ob- 
taining another  sight  of  Anna.    Little  did  he  dream  at  that  verv. 

(30) 


466  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

moment,  instead  of  his  wife  tenderly  watching  his  receding  form, 
that  Priest  Rheinhart,  with  lustful  eyes,  was  watching  him  vanish 
from  sight  that  he  might,  without  fear  of  a  husband's  wrath,  en- 
ter that  home,  and  there  with  one  withering  stroke  blight  every 
hope,  every  pure  emotion  of  that  happy  home,  and  paint  the 
character  of  a  poor  wife  as  black  as  midnight  in  hell,  and  crush  to 
earth  the  fond  hopes  of  a  loving  husband.  Six  o'clock,  and  the 
day's  work  is  done, — Adam  Schmit  joyfully  picks  up  his  dinner 
pail  and  starts  for  home,  little  dreaming  what  awful  anguish,  and 
heart-aches  awaited  him  at  his  little  home  he  left  that  morning. 
He  reaches  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  looks  down  upon  the  peaceful 
village,  his  eyes  rest  upon  his  vineclad  cottage,  but  he  fails  to  see 
his  darling  wife  in  her  accustomed  place  on  the  porch  to  wave 
him  a'  signal  of  recognition,  but,  poor  husband — he  sees  his 
brother-in-law,  Michael  Steinauer,  come  galloping  towards  him 
at  break-neck  speed;  his  heart  stands  still,  for  w'ell  he  knows  that 
something  terrible  has  happened  at  home  or  he  would  not  be 
tearing  towards  him  at  this  terrible  rate.  He  draws  nearer,  the 
blood  in  the  veins  of  poor  Schmit  chills  with  fear,  as  his  brother- 
in-law  draw's  near  his  breath  comes  in  gasps.  Michael  Steinauer 
thunders  forth  on  his  foaming  steed  like  the  madness  of  a  hurri- 
cane. He  draws  rein  and  dismounts  by  the  side  of  Schmit.  They 
gaze  into  each  other's  eyes,  but  not  a  word  is  spoken,  as  it  seemed 
to  both  that  to  speak  was  to  forever  put  in  motion  a  wave  of 
sadness  that  would  eternally  weigh  their  souls  with  a  burden  that 
nothing  this  side  of  the  grave  could  tear  away.    With  quivering 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  461 

lips,  and  cheeks  that  were  as  colorless  as  a  slab  of  marble,  and 
limbs  trembling  like  a  reed  tossed  by  a  winter's  gale,  he  franti- 
cally pleads  with  streaming  eyes,  but  motionless  lips  for  an  ex- 
planation. 

Kind  reader,  just  for  one  moment  go  back  in  your  mind's 
eye  to  the  tortures  this  poor  soul  must  have  gone  through  during 
these  moments  of  suspense  while  gazing  into  the  maddened  eyes 
of  his  brother-in-law,  for  well  he  knew  that  this  awful  ride  and 
the  anguish  depicted  upon  every  feature  must  mean  something 
dreadful  to  the  wife  of  his  bosom.  Husbands,  the  wealth  of  the 
world  scattered  in  abundant  profusion  at  your  feet  would  not 
tempt  you  to  pass  through  the  experience  of  this  poor  mortal; 
but  what  must  have  been  his  feeling  when  his  brother-in-law 
had  gained  sufficient  composure  to  speak,  and  with  heart-rending 
sobs,  exclaimed :  "Anna  is  gone !  Your  wife  and  my  dear  sister 
is  gone ! !" 

Nature  turns  the  flood  gates  of  the  soul  loose  and  copious 
tears  flow  from  the  fire-lit  eyes  of  this  wretched  husband,  and 
he  exclaims :    "Is  Anna,  my^  darling  wife,  dead?" 

A  silence  follows,  but  at  last  Michael  Steinauer  sobs  out  from 
his  embittered  soul :  "Oh,  a  thousand  times  better  were  she 
dead !  Yea,  were  she  peacefully  sleeping  beneath  the  sod  in  yon 
little  churchyard,  it  would  be  a  pleasure,  and  a  relief  to  our  sor- 
rowing souls  to  go  forth  at  eventide  and  sit  beside  the  mound 
that  marked  her  resting  place,  and  dream  of  the  happy  past,  and 


468  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Strew  flowers  she  was  fond  of  through  Hfe  upon  her  grave,  but 
alas,  alas,  this  has  been  denied  us,  for  at  this  very  moment  your 
wife  and  my  sister  is  now  in  the  company  of  the  priest  whom 
you  and  I  had  implicit  confidence  in,  and  whom  we  have  revered 
as  a  child  does  a  father." 

Could  the  little  hillslope  near  this  Nebraska  town  reveal  the 
scene  and  the  same  could  be  transferred  to  canvas,  this  picture 
would  paint  the  Catholic  creed  a  million  shades  darker  than  the 
most  polluted  regions  of  hell,  and  would  cause  nations  to  weep 
tears  wrung  forth  in  pity,  and  everlasting  disgust  for  everything 
pertaining  to  the  priestcraft. 

In  sadness  husband  and  brother  start  for  the  home  of  this 
wretched  mortal,  but  no  longer  can  it  be  called  home,  for  the 
flower  that  once  shed  a  halo  of  light  and  joy  across  its  thresh- 
old is  gone;  the  wife  that  he  would  have  gladly  given  up  his 
life  for  was  at  that  very  moment  speeding  away  with  Priest  Rhein- 
hart.  The  husband  reaches  home;  he  halts  at  its  threshold,  he 
gazes  at  the  drawn  blinds. 

A  moment  in  sad  and  sorrowful  meditation,  and  he  gains 
courage  to  enter  that  home  wlhich  he  left  a  few  short  hours  ago, 
so  happily  so  far  as  he  was  concerned. 

Strain  your  imagination,  dear  reader,  and  look  down  into 
the  portals  of  that  husband's  heart,  as  he  gazes  upon  the  large  pic- 
ture of  his  wife  hanging  over  the  mantlepiece,  by  the  side  of  which 
hangs  the  marriage  certificate.  He  finds  the  home  in  its  usual  tidy 
condition;  he  finds  the  buncH  of  flowers  he  had  plucked  for  his 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  469 

wife  the  day  before  with  his  own  hands  still  sitting  upon  the 
dresser;  the  aroma  of  these  flowers  maddens  his  brain  as  the 
flood-gates  of  his  soul  were  gradually  drying  up,  and  his  soul  was 
rushing  from  crazed  sorrow  to  the  dangerous  incline  that  leads  to 
a  whirlpool  of  anger,  and  the  world  has  never  witnessed  anything 
so  great  as  the  sweeping,  unsubdued  anger  of  a  wronged  husband. 
In  vain  does  this  distracted  husband  search  for  one  line  from  his 
wife,  thinking,  perhaps,  that  she  might  have  left  one  word  to  indi- 
cate where  she  had  gone ;  thinking  it  might  be  possible  that  she 
would  indicate  in  some  way  that  she  still  loved  him ;  but  not  a  line, 
not  a  token,  not  an  indication  left  to  lead  him  to  believe  that  she 
left  her  happy  home  with  a  pang  of  remorse.  We  hear  him  moan 
and  exclaim,  "Oh,  had  she  but  indicated  that  this  rash  step  gave 
her  pain,  my  soul  would  be  relieved  partially  of  this  unbearable 
burden,  then  I  would  know  that  my  ever  consuming  love  and  my 
mad  infatuation  had  not  been  ruthlessly  tossed  aside."  At  this 
moment  he  discovers  that  his  picture,  which  he  gave  her  when 
sweethearts,  was  gone;  his  eyes  sparkle  with  the  same  ardent  love 
and  affection  as  of  old,  and  visions  of  betrothed  days  flit  before  his 
eyes,  dim  with  weeping,  and  the  true  God-given  spirit  of  forgive- 
ness spreads  her  velvety  wings  over  his  manhood,  and  as  a  drown- 
ing man  grasps  at  a  straw,  he  grasps  the  tangled  net  of  her  flight, 
and  begins  to  unravel  the  possibility  of  undue  persuasion  over  the 
mind  of  his  Wife,  knowing  that  she  was  instilled  from  childhood 
with  the  idea  of  implicit  confidence  in  the  priesthood.  He  holds 
before  his  mental  vision  the  undying,  unconquered  love  he  bore 


470  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

his  wife,  and  asked  himself  what  right  any  man,  priest  or  layman, 
had  to  enter  the  home  of  a  loving,  adoring  husband  and  wife,  and 
tear  the  vitals  of  their  love  asunder,  and  pollute  and  debase  the 
sanctity  of  home.  Like  a  flash  the  tears  are  brushed  away,  and 
the  flame  of  maddened  insanity  flares  and  flickers  in  these  des- 
perate orbs;  justice  as  far  as  moral  law  is  concerned  has  asserted 
itself,  human  reason  has  been  dethroned,  and  the  vow  this  poor, 
soul-wounded  mortal  makes  is  awful,  but  it  seems  that  those  vows 
against  the  despoiler  of  his  home  are  just,  however  harsh  they 
may  sound.  Like  a  maddened  beast  he  staggers  forth  with  deter- 
mined resolutions.  The  invisible  fluid  that  overtakes  the  fugitive 
from  justice  is  set  in  motion,  and  the  spasmodic  click  of  the  tele- 
graph instrument  is  put  in  motion,  and  both  city  and  hamlet  are 
notified  that  the  bleeding  heart  of  a  husband  in  this  free  land  of 
America  has  been  torn  from  its  throne  of  love  and  is  being 
trampled  upon  by  the  ungodly  heel  of  an  amorous  priest,  given  his 
authority  through  the  Pope  of  Rome.  Forced  by  nature  this 
poor  man  who  a  short  time  ago  was  a  happy  husband,  was  com- 
pelled to  seek  restful  sleep  that  he  might  be  able  to  pursue  the  flee- 
ing priest  who  was  carrying  away  in  his  amorous  talons  like  a 
vulture,  the  wife  of  his  bosom.  He  retires,  but  not  to  sleep,  for 
love  is  stronger  than  a  thousand  fatigued  brains;  he  snatches  a 
few  moments  sleep,  to  be  awakened  by  a  hideous  nightmare  in  the 
likeness  of  slimy  serpents  with  the  faces  of  priests  about  the  writh- 
ing form  of  his  wife.  Day  da  wins;  he  drags  his  desolate  and 
lonely  body  from  the  threshold  of  his  once  happy  home,  and  rushes 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM.  471 

to  the  telegraph  office  in  hopes  of  news  from  Anna.  A  message 
awaits  him;  she  is  located.  We  see  him  tremblingly  tear  the  mes- 
sage open,  and  with  Wild  and  dilated  eyes  he  read,  'Triest  Rheln- 
hart  and  your  wife  in  Springfield,  111."  Nature  has  been  exhausted, 
the  world  floats  before  him  in  a  confused  mass  of  bewilder- 
ment, he  cries  out  like  a  wounded  animal  in  the  throes  of  death; 
sympathetic  hands  restore  him,  and  he  registers  a  vow  before  God 
that  his  wife  shall  be  again  restored  to  his  affections.  He  vows 
everlasting  and  undying  hatred  to  the  Catholic  Church  and  her 
insidious  and  immoral  practices,  and  methinks  I  hear  the  angels 
from  the  battlements  of  heaven  exclaim  'Amen!  Husband  and 
brother  get  together  and  map  out  a  plan  whereby  they  can  bring 
the  priest,  this  despoiler  of  homes,  this  slaughterer  of  virtue,  and 
traducer  of  American  institutions  to  a  speedy  and  severe  punish- 
ment. We  will  see  with  what  success  they  meet,  but  the  history  of 
all  Catholic  wrongdoing  will  prepare  you  for  the  result,  as  the 
Catholic  world  at  once  comes  to  the  rescue  of  her  satin-coached 
priestcraft.  At  once  the  machinery  of  Catholicism  is  set  in  mo- 
tion at  Springfield,  111.,  to  save  the  carcass  of  this  vile  and  debased 
priest.  He  realizes  that  he  is  caught  in  the  act  of  his  heinous  cor- 
ruption and  goes  to  Priest  Sturm  of  Springfield,  111.  And  what 
do  you  suppose  this  Springfield  priest  has  to  say  of  the  affair  ?  It 
follows :  "Father  Rheinhart  is  very  penitent,  and  is  so  sorry,  and 
I  advised  him  to  return  to  his  Nebraska  home  and  turn  Schmit's 
wife  over  to  him,  and  I  am  quite  sure  he  will  do  this,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  but  what  he  will  have  to  go  before  the  bishop  at  Lincoln, 


472  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  DEEDS  OF  ROMANISM. 

Neb.,  and  answer  for  his  conduct."  In  the  name  of  heaven !  has 
CathoHcism  such  a  grasp  upon  the  vitals  of  America  that  a  priest 
may  at  his  will  dethrone  reasons  of  husbands  and  pollute  innocent 
virtue,  and  have  no  other  punishment  meted  out  to  him,  only  to 
g"o  before  one  of  his  own  ilk  and  have  a  reprimand  delivered  unto 
him,  and  then  be  turned  loose  upon  the  public  again  to  seduce 
wives  and  daughters.  This  matter  was  hushed  up,  and  this  priest 
was  not  punished,  and  is  at  this  time  forgiving  sins  (  ?)  of  the 
ignorant  and  priest-ridden  followers  of  Pope  Leo.  Read  this  chap- 
ter to  your  children  and  teach  them  that  Catholicism  is  anything 
and  everything  but  what  the  Lord  of  Hosts  teaches  in  the  Bible. 
"How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long"  will  America  submit  to  such  wick- 
edness ? 


>^ 


AUSTIN   BOOK  SHOP 
BERNARD  TITOWSKY 
82-64  AUSTIN  STREET 
KEW  GARDENS,   N.Y.    11415 
AMERICAN  HISTORY 


